My sword came crashing down hard on ... sending me flying backwards onto the stairs. The rain had stopped and the darkness was now gone. My men were now gone as well. I looked around to see that I was alone, sitting on the stairs in the Pantheon-like temple of the Oracles. But I wasn't alone. There they were, standing in the middle of the temple. I stood, walking over to them slowly. "Where are my men? What am I doing here? What's going on?" The man shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Such insolence. Why do you instantly question us upon your arrival? Do you not realize that we have saved your insignificant existence once again? And yet you have not brought us a gift. Typical." I looked down at the sword in my hand and back up at the woman. She was the one who appreciated the gifts more than the man, so I handed the sword over to her. She took it from me eagerly. "Oooh, Angel. The very weapon you would use to defend your soul with, you would hand over to us. This is most intriguing. Beautiful!" I looked back over to the man, returning to my questioning from before, disregarding his questions.

"Where are my men?" It was the most important question. If they had brought me down here and left my men up there to die, I would kill them where they stood. But even I knew that's not the way they worked. They worked for the PtB just the way I did... more ore less. "They are in a safe place," the woman said, still looking over the sword and I looked over at her as the man told me. "The Powers that Be have decided it is time to level the playing field. You have proven that you have not joined sides with the Wolf the Ram and the Hart and you can be trusted." I looked the man straightly in the face, narrowing my eyes in on him. "Where are my men?" Wanting to know, still not getting a straight answer. "You will be returned to them. The PtB have not rewound time, but you do have enough time to rally your army. Forces have been sent to you from across the globe and from other realms. You are the Champion, Angel. You are their General. Lead them." I let go of a heavy breath turning my head down to nod as he waved his hand in front of me.

As I lifted my head, I was standing inside of the hotel, our hotel, Spike, Gunn and Illyria running toward me. They had been running toward all the monsters in the alley. But now they were gone. Well, we weren't in the alley anymore and they were running toward me. They all stopped running, almost tripping over each other, pulling back. "Angel!" Gunn gasped out almost breathlessly, still suffering from the gash in his side from his fight earlier with the senator and her party. It was good we had a little time. He could get patched up and he'd be in a better position to fight. "What in the bloody hell?" Spike sighed, pushing it off quicker than Gunn, turning around and looking around the place. "Wha– How'd we get back to the ol' Hotel de Angel?" Illyria stepped closer to me, turning her head slightly. "A higher power has assisted in our displacement from the bout of battle, has it not?" I nodded my head, stepping closer to the rest of them.

"The Powers that Be have leveled the field. Others will be arriving soon. We will be fighting with a full army. Not just the four of us." Gunn shook his head. "So what are we supposed to do, just wait while those Dungeons and Dragons beasts tear up the streets of Los Angeles?" I shook my head, walking over to him, making him sit down. "No. The rest of the world is basically paused while our army is being assembled. It's not a usual tactic, but the PtB managed to twist the fabric of time with out the other side noticing." Somehow I understood that without them having to explain that to me. "But we don't have much time. We have to work fast. Once everyone is here, we won't have long to assemble and attack." Gunn nodded, looking up at me from where I had made him sit on the couch in the middle of the lobby "The Grooselugg is ready for battle, Angel."

I turned to see Groo standing on the stoop from the doorway from the garden entrance to the hotel, that big goofy grin on his face as he usually had plastered all over his face. He was dressed in his usual Pilean attire with his Earth leather jacket over it. Not that I was fashionably sensible, but that just didn't look good at all. "Groo!" Gunn said, standing a little painfully from the couch, walking over to him from the couch. He greeted him with a handshake and a half-hug. "Gunn! You are bleeding. Has the battle already begun? Where is the princess? Is she alright?" He looked over at me. "I know you would protect her, even if she would insist on going in to battle." The pain of losing Cordelia would always weigh heavy on me, especially now seeing the Grooselugg. Gunn looked over at me, knowing it wasn't his place to tell Groo about Cordelia. "Who's the ponce?" Spike piped up and intervened. I knew if I didn't say anything soon, he'd be saying something stupid and I'd having a crying Grooselugg on my hands, and I didn't want that. He didn't know Cordelia was the princess Groo was refering too, but if enough was said, Spike would know and he'd say something and Groo would never stop crying. Groo had to be handled with kid gloves.

"We need to talk, Groo," I said, taking a step back and pushing the door open to my office. "Is somebody goin to clue me in about the princess and the ponce?" Spike asked, looking around the room. I glared over at Spike. "Just shut up, alright?" He held up his hands and took a step back. "If anyone else arrives, brief them on what we're up against out there." Gunn nodded, walking slowly back over to the couch and slumping back into it. I closed the door to my office behind Groo and walked around to the other side of my desk, sitting down after him. "What has become of my princess, Angel? Where is she?" I sighed, hating that I had to tell him this. We weren't close because of Cordelia. He was a good man. I had to concede that, but because we had both loved the same woman, we never liked each other. Another reason why Spike and I hated each other. Of course, Spike's and my animosity spanned back decades, but recently it was about Buffy... Even if I was in love with Cordelia.

"Cordelia," I started slowly, trying to choose my words carefully, "is no longer with us. She became a higher being and gave birth to a goddess." The Grooselugg's face lit up brightly. "Congratulations, Angel. You are a father! It is always a happy day when we welcome a child into this world. Of course, the Grooselugg has not had this honor yet, and may not, but I know it is a happy occasion when offspring are brought into this world." I took a deep breath, shaking my head, even though the breath was unnecessary for my lungs, it felt appropriate. "The child was not mine." Technically she was my granddaughter, but that was beside the point. "It's all very complicated, but the point is that this left Cordelia in a coma. She did not wake up from giving birth to the goddess. She died less than a year later." It wasn't even three months ago that she had died. I still missed her, but she had been in her coma for more than a year. That didn't mean that I didn't want to hold her in my arms still. That didn't mean that I didn't still love her... Even if I had been with Nina. I'm know that's why a moment of complete happiness couldn't be found with her. I wasn't in love with her. I liked spending time with her and I cared about her. I didn't want to see her hurt. That's why I sent her and her family away. But she wasn't Cordelia.

The Grooselugg leaned forward, placing his face in his hands, sobs coming from his mouth as his shoulders shook with them. I leaned across the desk, speaking sternly to him. "You need to keep yourself together, Groo. Cordelia is gone, ok? She's not coming back." He lifted his head, looking at me, the tears fresh on his face. "You're a warrior. You need to keep your head on your purpose and remember what you're doing here. Grieve for her afterward." Groo nodded, sitting up straight. "You are right, Angel. The Grooselugg is a champion like Angel. We will go into battle, and then we will share a drink in the princess' name." I nodded as well, standing up. I could accept that. "Come on. We have work to do." Groo stood with me and we walked out of the office and a portal opened above our heads, dropping a very familiar, ostentatiously dressed green demon at our feet.

"Great balls of fire!" he groaned, pushing himself up off the ground as I leaned down to help him to his feet. "Lorne! It's great to see you." He looked me squarely in the eyes and then around at everyone else in the room. There were a few new faces in the room from when Groo and I had entered my office, but for the most part it was still silent. "What's going on here?" I knew he had wanted to leave, but if the PtB was sending him back, there was a reason. "The Apocalypse. The PtB found a way to freeze time even for a moment to give us time to rally our forces so we have a level playing field." He shook his head, walking away from me. "Oh no, Angel Hair. I told you. I'm out! I was even as out as I had gone back to Pilea." I knew Lorne had never wanted to go back to Pilea, so I knew how serious he was about that. Lorn turned his head back toward me, still walking toward the door. "Bon notte, Singoré Angel. I mean that." He lifted his hand to the door handle and was sent flying back into the hotel, landing on the couch beside Gunn. "Welcome back, man," Gunn said, nodding his welcome. Lorne let his head fall back against the back rest, sighing heavily, silently cursing the Powers in his head.

Spike strolled over to me, looking over the people in the room, leaning back against the front desk counter. "You think we might have an actual chance now, mate?" I looked over at Spike, shaking my head. I never got ahead of myself. I never let myself think I was bigger than what I was going up against. I relied on the people I was working with and I never let them down either. "We have a chance, yes. If we work together, Spike." He held up his hands. "Whoa! Hold on a second there, Nancy! Don't get your nickers in a bunch. I'm on your side 100 percent. I'm one of the good guys, remember? Even if you're not one of my favorite vampires, I still have your back." I nodded, sliding my hands in my pockets. "I know. I appreciate that, Spike, I do." Spike turned his head slightly. "Was that a thank you? Did Angel just thank me?" I let my hands fall from my pockets, shaking my head. "Don't get used to it, Spike." He laughed, practically doing a little dance where he stood. "Oh, I won't. It's too frightening. I wouldn't want that on a daily basis."

I shook my head and looked ahead of us as three brunettes walked toward us. The girl in the middle spoke for the three of them. "My name's Piper. This is my sister Phoebe and my other sister Paige. We're the Charmed Ones. Witches. Phoebe has premonitions... visions from the Powers that Be and we were told this is where we needed to be to fight. You are Angel, right?" I looked over at Phoebe, and couldn't help but stare for a moment. She smiled at me. "Cat got your tongue?" she asked, laughing slightly. I cleared my throat, shaking my head. "No. Sorry, I just... I used to know some one who... Premonitions?" We hadn't called them premonitions. They had just been visions. Premonitions wasn't that bad of a word for them. The taller brunette nodded. "Yes. They show me things that are going to happen. Things that lead me to where we're supposed to save innocents. Or like now, lead us here to you where we're supposed to help fight the Apocalypse." I looked over the three of them, actually grateful they were here.

"Witches, hey? So, what kind of supernatural goodies are you all imbued with?" Spike wondered, stepping into the conversation. I sighed heavily, taking a step back. I'd have to find a moment to talk longer with Phoebe, I think her name was, about her premonitions a little longer. I knew her Apocalypse premonition was the most important right now, but if we got through this one, I'd like to talk to her about her premonitions as a whole. Paige smiled at him, orbing out of the spot where she stood and orbed in behind him, tapping him on the shoulder. Spike jumped, turning around. "Bloody hell! What the hell was that?" She laughed, smiling at him. "That's called orbing. I can also orb objects too." She looked over at the desk behind the counter, seeing a coffee mug. "Mug." She held out her hand for it and it orbed off from the desk and into her hand. Spike nodded, impressed, looking over at me. "I like this chick. She's pretty fetching." Paige smiled, proud of herself. Spike looked back at her, wondering.

"Can you do that orbing thing with weapons and big baddies in fights?" Paige pursed her lips, still smiling. "Yes, I can. I can orb objects of any weight and size and up to farther distances than just this mug to my hand and at greater speeds." Spike turned to look at me again. "Do I have time to go out and run field tests?" He was having a little bit too much fun, but I couldn't very well tell him no. This was what we were supposed to be doing. Getting our army ready. "Go ahead. Don't go too far though." He looked like a child given free reign in a candy store. He wrapped his arm around Paige's shoulder's and walked with her toward the doors of the hotel. They opened readily for them. I was sure it was because the PtB knew they weren't trying to get out of this. They were going to train and prepare for battle, not escape.

I turned to Piper, looking her over. "What do you do, Piper?" She looked back at me from watching her sister leave with Spike. "I manipulate time. Freeze it. Speed it up. Actually, I can blow things up, really." I blinked slightly, nodding my head slowly at her. She smiled up at me. "Don't worry, I won't blow you up." I laughed a little uneasily. "Well, thank you." She laughed, smiling up at me. "Besides, you're the boss here, right? That wouldn't be a good thing to blow up the boss, now would it?" I laughed for real this time. "No. But don't look at me as the boss. I'm just going to get everyone through this." Yes, I was their leader, and I had been the boss for what, the last five years, and I'd continue being the boss, but right now I was just going to get everyone through this alive and well. "That's why we're all going to work together. My sisters and I are used to working as one. We'll do the same for you, Angel." I smiled down at her as she walked away, leaving me with her sister.

"She's used to being in charge, but she knows that you're the boss here, so she might be a little short with you." I looked over at her sister as she started talking to Gunn, noticing his wound, and asking him where the first aide kit was. Looking back at Phoebe, I shook my head. "I had no idea." Phoebe laughed, smiling up at me. "She's good at hiding it. She doesn't like people knowing her weaknesses. It's a Halliwell family trait actually." I nodded my head. "Halliwell? I knew some Halliwells once. Back in England. Years ago." Phoebe smiled up at me before taking a soft breath. "You've been in a lot of fights, haven't you, Angel?" I nodded, leaning back against the door frame, looking down at her. She was so beautiful. I hadn't seen anything as beautiful as her since... I didn't want to think about Cordelia right now. It wasn't fair to Cordelia and it wasn't fair to Phoebe.

"You can think about her," Phoebe spoke softly, taking a step closer to me. I blinked down at her, pulling my head back to regard her more closely. "Excuse me?" She smiled softly up at me, reaching her hand up to place her hand on my forearm. She jumped slightly, gasping, and I watched as she stood there for a moment. Her breathing slowed, and if I didn't know any better, I'd think she fell asleep, standing there in front of me. But it was only briefly. She inhaled deeply, as if she had stopped breathing and looked up at me, smiling softly, tears starting to fall from her eyes. "Oh, Angel. I'm so sorry. You really loved her. I can feel it." If I could take a step back from her, I would, but I had the door frame pressing into my back and her right in front of me. Swallowing, I nodded softly. "I'm sorry she died like that." I shook my head, fighting at the tears in my eyes.

"Can we not talk about this, please?" She smiled, nodding softly. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push. It's just that you're screaming 'Cordelia.'" She pulled her hand softly from my arm, wiping her tears from her face. "I'm an empath as well. In addition to my premonitions, I can sense the way others are feeling. Sure, I may not have any active powers like my sisters, but I can hold my own in a fight, believe me. If you want, I can show you. I can kick any demon's ass any day of the week, even without a spell. Oh, and we do have the Power of Three on our side." I shook my head slightly. "What's the Power of Three?" She smiled up at me. "It's pretty much our most powerful spell. Couple it with any other spell we cast and it will pretty much obliterate any demon." I was pretty sure next to Willow, these were probably the most powerful witches on Earth and I was glad that the PtB had sent them our way. We could definitely use them. "Are you familiar with weapons?" She raised her eyebrows. "Weapons?" I could tell she wasn't, which meant we didn't have much time.

"Follow me," I instructed, walking over to Gunn. "I'm taking Phoebe downstairs for some training. If there's something you can't handle, Gunn, you know where to find me. But you two are in charge." I thought I'd include Piper in that, considering what Phoebe told me. I didn't want to leave her out of that. Phoebe and I walked over to the weapon cabinet and I opened it, taking out a few axes, a few swords, a morning star, and a few more weapons. Handing her a few, I looked down at her. "Ready for this?" She looked down at the weapons she held and back up at me. "Ready." I lead her down the stairs, flipping on the light and she looked at the cage. "What's with the cage?" I looked over at it and back at her as I turned to face her. "Didn't see that in your premonition?" She smiled at me, nodding. "I did. I just thought maybe you didn't like me in your head that much." The truth was I didn't. The truth was also that I didn't know exactly how much she had seen. "How much did you see in your vision?"

She leaned over to set down most of the weapons except for the sword she was carrying. "Everything. I saw everything you and Cordelia ever did together. From the moment you met in Sunnydale to the moment she gave you her visions in your office at Wolfram and Hart." I blinked. She had only stood there in front of me for a few moments, ten to fifteen seconds at most, and she had seen all that. "I felt everything too. Everything you felt. Even everything she felt. I know when you two fell in love. You'd be surprised to know how long you two danced around each other." I slowly stood from laying down the rest of my weapons. I knew when I had fallen in love with her, but I had fought it for so long... Could she have loved me that long as well? "Yes." Phoebe answered, and I looked into her eyes. They reminded me of Cordelia's. Dark and full of that same life that I had always found invigorating in her. It was amazing all the similarities I found in Phoebe and Cordelia.

"I don't know if I like you in my head this much," I told her, holding my sword up to her. She grimaced slightly. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to listen so much. Let's focus on the task at hand." She smiled brightly at me, holding her sword up to me. "I dated a demon once, actually we got married and he became the Source..." She shook her head slightly before continuing, "He taught me how to sword fight. I was pretty good at it." I took my first lunge toward her, "Lets see," I said, and she deflected it nicely with her sword. "You hold the sword pretty good. The key is to always remember that the sword is an extension of you. Don't ever let it go. Don't ever let your opponent disarm you and don't let it become greater than you, yours or your opponent's." Phoebe nodded, holding the sword up at the ready, and I brought my sword up, taking my next swing toward her sword as we continued our training. She was pretty good. Everything I threw at her, she could block. She even came at me and I was impressed with her fight. I knew she could handle her own. She was just as good with the other weapons as well. And her hand to hand combat was better than that with the weapons. I didn't have anything to worry about. Not that we were going to to hand to hand with these beasts. Weapon fighting was our attack plan, that was for sure, as well as spells and charms, amulets and anything mystical we could get our hands on. We weren't holding back on anything on this fight. We were going in with everything possible.

Phoebe and I came back upstairs a while later to see that practically the entire lobby was filled with warriors and mystics alike, some I knew, some I'd never met. Spike and Paige were back and were talking to Gunn and Piper and a few others I wasn't familiar with. Lorne was sitting behind the front desk, talking to Groo and a few other interdimensional beings. If anything, he was good for interdimensional liaisons, even if he didn't think he wanted to be here. We were all here fighting for the same thing, but we still needed someone here to translate if needs be and to play mediator. He needed to be here, we wanted him here, even if he didn't want to be. "Nice of you to join us, mate. Our Paige here is going to be really handy out there on the battle field! That shiny lights thingy she does–" She laughed, correcting him, "Orbing." He smirked at her, turning back to me. "Yeah, that. It's going to be really useful out there!" I nodded to Paige. "Good," looking over the rest of them before looking back over at Phoebe. "Phoebe's going to be an asset out there on the battle field as well. She's amazing with weapons and she's even better at hand to hand." Piper agreed, "She always has been the best when it comes to that kind of stuff." I smiled down at Phoebe and she smiled back up at me.

"Alright, I'm here. Let's get to work." The voice came from the direction of the front door and Spike and I looked at each other before both of us turned to look at the door. There, standing on the stoop was the one person neither of us had seen in years. Well, we'd seen her in Italy dancing with The Immortal, but we hadn't had a chance to talk to her or anything. And Spike had seen her since I had in Sunnydale, but... That was beside the point. Here she was in my hotel. Willow, Xander, Giles and a host of slayers stood behind them, the doors wide open as they spanned down the walk behind them and into the street. "Buffy..." Both Spike and I spoke her name. I swallowed, my feet stuck on the tile unable to move from where they stood. Spike started to walk forward and there was no way I was going to let him get to her first, so somehow my feet found their forward momentum and I was able to walk as well.

"You're here," Spike said, looking up at her in awe from the bottom of the stairs where we both stopped. She looked down at us, holding her hands up in her glory. "I did just say that." She smiled only slightly down at me. "Hi, Angel." I nodded up at her. "Hi." Was all I said. I wasn't going to get into things with her right here in front of people. I knew she wouldn't either. She turned to look at Spike, her eyes tearing up a little, her smile brightening up a little as well. "It's good to see you, Spike." Spike took one step up toward her. "It's good to see you too, Buffy." I rolled my eyes, turning my head away from their reunion. Buffy wiped away a tear, swallowing harshly. "We'll talk after we beat this bitch, Spike. We don't have time for it right now. Angel, what's the plan?" I turned my head back to her, looking around to everyone else as well. "We don't have much time. But I know you're all ready for this. You're all here because you're the best. We go in there and we take them down. If you know how to kill it, you do it. If you don't know how to take it down, you do what you can until someone comes to help you who does know how to kill it. We're all a team here. We all go into this together and we all come out of it together. No one is in this alone."

I turned back to Buffy and the rest of them. "There's some people I want you to meet." They were all my men now. Not that Buffy was mine, but she was my teammate, and we were working together. I lead them over to The Charmed Ones. "Piper, Paige, Phoebe, I'd like to introduce you to some people. First off, this is Buffy Summers. She's the vampire slayer. And this is Willow Rosenburg her best friend and a very powerful witch like yourselves. That's Xander Harris, another close friend. And this is Rupert Giles, a member of the Slayers' Watchers Council." I turned to them. "Phoebe, Piper and Paige Halliwell are The Charmed Ones. Witches. Piper has the power to manipulate time. Paige can do this thing called orbing, and Phoebe is their link to the PtB." Buffy smiled at them, maybe almost a little forcibly directed at Phoebe. "Nice to meet you." She turned back to look at me. "Do you think we should get out there?" I nodded, looking over at Giles. "What do you think, Giles?" He slid his hands in his pockets, thinking for a moment.

"All mythical and mystical creatures, you are definitely going to want your muscle, but you will want magic as well." I nodded, agreeing with him as well. I had already planned on it. "I can cast a spell on all the weapons to have a level of mystical property of mythical slaying, if you'd like?" Willow suggested. Giles nodded his head, his eyebrows high above his eyes as he thought about the idea. I crossed my arms over my chest, rubbing my chin with one of my hands. "That sounds like a good idea. It couldn't hurt." Gunn spoke up from where he sat beside us. "Why haven't we done that before?" Spike scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Ummm, maybe because you didn't know, you git!" I had to know all the details. "But will it last? Will our weapons hold up?" Giles nodded his head with Willow. "There's no reason why it shouldn't," he said, but that wasn't enough for me. "Yes, Angel. The spell will hold and the weapons will hold up. You shouldn't worry about that at least." I trusted Willow's word. Giles and I never had seen eye to eye, not for lack of trying, at least on my part. He was a watcher, and I had nearly killed his slayer as Angelus on more than one occasion. He didn't trust me and I didn't blame him. I was as protective of her as Angel as he was.

"Is everyone ready then?" Buffy asked, "I mean, once we cast the spell on the weapons." I nodded my head, looking out at all the warriors and champions alike. I could definitely tell that they were ready. They may not have known that they were going to fight in this battle, this Apocalypse this morning when they woke up, maybe some of them, like Phoebe who had premonitions knew, but we were all here, getting ready to fight for one reason, to end the Apocalypse. We may not end the Apocalypse, but at least we'd end this battle of it. Who knew what end of it we were at. Who knew if we were just barely getting started, whether we were at the beginning or at the end or somewhere in the middle of it, but wherever we were, we weren't backing down. We were going in as one and we were all coming out the same way. "We're ready." I knew we were. We were more ready now than we would ever be. If only I could have Wesley, Fred, Doyle and Cordelia by my side as well, but I didn't live in a world where I thought of would have, could have, should have beens. This was my world now, and this was the world I was fighting for. This was the world I was working to save.