Alexander

The next day found Alex and Xander walking through the forest, following Fred towards the two while Angel and Spike kept a lookout for Soldiers. They were passing through a clearing in the forest when the group found Wesley and Lorne.

“Angel!” Wesley growled, staring at the vampire. “What was the point of just running off like that?”

“I had to pretend that Wesley was my cow!” Lorne grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Something about Pylea makes the demonic side of Angel and Spike come forward.” Alex remarked. “So they’re kind of stuck in a feral state.”

“You had to pretend to be Lorne’s slave?” Xander laughed as Wesley growled again.

“Yes, but we also managed to figure out a way back.” Lorne cut off Wesley. “The Priests have books with the proper spells for this world… whose your friend?”

“This is Fred. She’s originally from our dimension, but got stuck here.” Xander explained as Fred waved silently at Lorne and Wesley.

“So all we have to do is get the books from the Priests?” Alex asked, Angel rubbing against him much like a large cat as the humans and green demon spoke.

“And try and help the humans.” Xander added, pushing Spike down like he was a hyperactive dog.

“So how are we supposed to do that?” Wesley asked, leaning back against a nearby tree. “After all, those Castle guards looked pretty tough.”

“We do have two crazy pyscho demons with us.” Xander remarked, gesturing to Spike and Angel. “Then Wesley and I aren’t too shabby at fighting and Alex has magic…”

“Lorne has his voice.” Wesley remarked. “They don’t have song in this universe, so him singing makes them all fall to the ground clutching their ears.”

“So what? We just storm the castle?” Xander asked, looking between the members of the group.

It turned out that was exactly what they did. With an army of rebel slaves following them, the members of Angel Investigations found themselves charging the castle. After only a few seconds of battle the guards found themselves fighting alone, with the natives of Pylea running off as slaves joined the fight, even if they had no weapons and had to use their bare hands.

It was at this time that Wesley, Lorne, Alex and Xander found themselves inside the castle, searching for the Priests while freeing slaves left and right. The small group turned the corner and found themselves in what looked like an Evil Scientist’s lab, with a strange metallic device in the middle of it all.

Somehow the Priests inside the room hadn’t realized that they were alone, and one of them was looking down at the device with a malicious smile on his face. “If one of thy slaves offend thee, thou shalt smite him down… and if all of thy slaves offend thee, thou shalt smite them down, too, even upon the very last one in the land.”

As the Priest said this, his hand started to move towards an outline of a hand that was upon the machine, with several jewels set around it. Xander, Wesley and Lorne realized exactly what the machine was at that second and moved to stop the Priest.

“No.”

Alex’s voice was calm, but it struck fear in the hearts of the bravest men and demons in the room. The Priests turned around to see who had dared to interrupt them and started to shout orders for their Guards to stop the cows. While they were doing this one of them moved back towards the machine.

Xander watched in amazement as Alex’s eyes turned a ghostly white and a powerful wind whipped around the room, as if Alex was the center of a hurricane. The Priests cried out in shock and disbelief as they were flung away from the machine, which twisted as if a giant was crushing it. The Priests and their machines seemed to be the only thing effected by the wind, when the power of Alex’s magic came close to Xander, Wesley and Lorne it turned into a gentle breeze which didn’t even have enough power to shift their hair.

As the group watched, Alex’s hands rose, as if he was holding a ball of power. He flexed slightly and a brilliant light emerged from his outstretched hands and formed a perfect crystal like orb. For a moment the room went silent, as some sort of power seemed to draw all attention to Alex, who was staring directly at the Priest who had been trying to activate the machine which would have killed all the human slaves.

“Peace is not the absence of war but the presence of justice.”

The words seemed to echo in the room for a few seconds before the power that Alex had been holding in his hands burst and the white light rocketed out towards the Priests and the machine. Xander, Wesley and Lorne found themselves blinded by the light for a few seconds. When their vision finally cleared Xander raced forward, catching Alex as he fell backwards, his body trembling from the amount of magic he’d used.

“Alex?” Xander whispered, looking over at where the Priests had stood and seeing nothing… just a plain floor and walls.

“I want to go home.” Alex whispered, leaning against Xander and letting his eyes close. “We’ve done all we can here.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel and Spike had finally managed to get back to their human forms around the time that the battle had ended. They’d found themselves trying to start the newly freed humans on the right path, by helping the ‘leader’ of the rebels to get a base of power to start Pylea’s very own “Reconstruction”.

Just when they started to wonder where the rest of the LA gang were, Fred caught sight of Xander, who was carrying Alex out of the castle. Confused, the two vampires raced to their mates, making sure that everything was okay. Gently Angel took Alex, who was exhausted by all the magic he’d been using and in a simi-conscious state. With Fred in tow, the group started walking back to where they’d left Angel’s car. Fred and Lorne were laughing with each other, sharing their experiences in Pylea.

“You know what?” Lorne asked, looking back at the town they’d left. “The whole reason I came with Angel on this was because of a friend of mine. She told me I had to come back here… and I didn’t believe her. Then I realized I had to come back because I’d always thought that I’d be forced to one day… basically I had to come back to find out that I really don’t belong here.”

“So where do you belong?” Fred asked, blinking slightly as the group approached the car and started to pile in.

“LA.” Lorne replied. “Do you know why? Because no one belongs in LA. It’s the perfect place… of guys like me.”

“Wesley? You got the books?” Spike asked as Xander shifted slightly on his lap.

Wesley held up the books and cleared his throat before he started to read from them. In seconds a portal had opened, and the group found themselves driving along a street in Los Angeles that wasn’t too far from the Hotel.

“Were back.” Xander sighed, leaning against Spike. “Welcome back Fred.”

Fred looked around at the bright lights of the city and tears came to her eyes. “I didn’t think…” she started only to be gently cut off by Wesley and Lorne giving her a friendly hug.

“So what do you want to do, now that your back?” Angel asked as he helped Alex to his feet and got out of the car, walking towards the main door of the Hotel.

“Umm…” Fred thought about it for a second. “How about tacos?” She asked. “They still have tacos, right?”

“Oh yes, tacos everywhere.” Alex laughed softly as Xander darted out in front of the group.

“Can I say it?” Xander asked. “I wanna say it!”

“Say what?” Wesley asked.

Xander opened the doors of the hotel and stepped inside. “There’s no place like…” He froze, seeing Willow sitting on a couch inside the hotel. “Willow?” he whispered, moving towards the woman whom he considered his little sister.

Angel continued to hold Alex in his arms as he entered the hotel, the rest of the group following him, while Willow leaning on Xander’s shoulder as she sobbed quietly. “Willow?” Xander asked as he sat down with the young woman. “What happened?” he asked.

“Buffy.” Willow whispered, looking up at Angel and Spike.

“She’s dead.” Angel realized, staring down at the Willow and his mortal mates. “Buffy’s dead.”

TBC

Author’s Note: The line about Peace was originally said by Harrison Ford. I got it off a quote sight.