Coming Back to you:
A New Beginning
by Xanderphile

Part One: Calling the Corners

Sean sighed and read through the spell and recited it in his mind, making sure he knew it inside out. Wesley was checking all the ingredients he had bought and made sure he had everything. "That everything?" Asked Sean, looking up.

"Yes, Sean, I’m a bit worried about you having to remove Angel’s soul to do this spell, you’ve never had any contact with Angelus before. He could put you off," Wesley said, addressing something he had been worrying about for several days now.

"Wes, come on, no one can intimidate me, except butt ugly vampires raging about a spell,"

"Yes, I’m still trying to understand why Leigh was after the spell."

"Insanity can do strange things, or so I’m told.

Sean wandered over to the spell ingredients Wesley had bought and sifted through them. Then he looked at Wesley and asked, "Wesley, do you know if Angel and Buffy sorted everything out? I mean she was only talking to him in his office for like, 2 hours. I would have thought with problems the size of those twos, would have taken much longer."

"I doubt they did Sean. But I would consider those 2 hours progress."

"Speaking of, look I know you think I’m mad at you, ok, I am a bit, but I know your not exactly to blame for my fathers death. Are we cool?"

"How many American programmes are showing in England these days? Yes, we are err, cool," Wesley answered.

Sean smiled, "It’s all ready, time to call the corners, but first on the Jerry Springer show, a meeting with the Scourge of Europe a.k.a. Angelus," He said, suddenly wondering if he could accomplish all this without collapsing from exhaustion. He had a lot of power but not infinite strength. No last minute nerves! He reminded himself.

Angel stood in the centre of a pentagram Sean had drawn, well, not stood, he was in a cage, under the insistence of Cordelia, Wesley and Buffy. Sean had said he was not in a position to comment. Sean began to chant an incantation, they had combined a spell for prolonged sleep to see if they could avoid an Angelus confrontation all together, but Sean said it probably wouldn’t work. If it didn’t Sean was going to shoot him with a tranquilliser dart. Buffy, through Angel’s own insistence, was in the office and was to stay out of sight till they got on to the soul restoring spell. Sean finished his spell Angel felt the familiar burning sensation as he felt his soul being torn from him again. He screamed in agony, then it began to subside, and Angel literally felt Angelus, the demon, take over. The sleep thing had not worked.

"Well, it’s so nice to be back! And you all came to greet me, and locked me in a cage…that’s not very polite, now if you could just see yourselves to unlocking it, I’m sure we get along!" Angelus said, mockingly. It was Wesley’s nephew, Sean, who answered.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I say I find it insulting you actually think we are that thick!"

"Why, don’t you come closer and say that!" Snarled Angelus, pissed off that the little runt thought he had the right to insult him.

"Oohh, someone woke up the wrong side of de-cursing this morning!" Sean mocked, but really he was very afraid of the unmistakably evil glint in Angelus’s eyes, Leigh had one very similar.

"Sean!" Cordelia hissed, what the hell was wrong with this kid?

"Alright!" Sean picked up the tranq gun and shot the dart, it sped neatly through the cage bars and hit Angelus. Angelus didn’t have any time to react.

"Well, now you’ve proved how well you can out smart a dangerous vampire, how about getting on with the spell?" Asked Wesley.

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly. BUFFY! YOU CAN COME OUT!" Sean yelled. Buffy emerged, and noticed that Angel was sound asleep in the cage. "So, what do we do?"

"We sit in a circle. The instructions for the spell say you have to sit directly across from me, so we can either sit as north and south, or east and west."

"Willow would love to be here now. I’ll take west, I’d like to think I have intuition."

"So I’m invention. Not something I’d associate with myself," Sean said, smiling. Buffy was beginning to like him.

"Right, so Wesley and me are north and south. Which is best?

"For a woman, north. Never would associate the word mother with you though Cordelia."

"Hey!"

"Could we get on with this?" Snapped Buffy, then at the hurt looks she clarified, "I don’t want him waking up."

"Alright, take your marks, get set, chant," Sean said enthusiastically.

"Who starts?" Asked Cordelia.

"The east, that would be me, it then goes south, east, north," Sean said, and then he began:

"Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the east, Powers of air and invention, hear my prayer!"

"Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the south, Powers of fire and feeling, hear my prayer"-Wesley

"Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the west, Powers of water and intuition, hear my prayer!" – Buffy

"Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the north, Powers of mother and earth, hear my prayer!" – Cordelia.

Sean began to intone the rest of the spell, Cordelia and Wesley moved out of the pentagram, and stood some way away, but continued to watch.

"We pray of thee to return to the one before us, his blessed human soul, We also ask that you give him the ability to walk in the blessed sunlight! Yes! We accept the crimes he has committed, So me, the caster, and she, the lover swear in blood!" With that Sean and Buffy reached out and grabbed a small dagger that Wesley had bought, it was specifically meant for witches and warlocks to use. God knows what exactly they used it for, Buffy decided she did not want to know. She and Sean grasped the dagger, one holding the top half and one holding the bottom half. Sean and Buffy both grimaced as the steel dug into their palms. Blood ran off the tip of the blade and dripped onto the top of the cage, which had a mixture of herbs and notably, an orb of Thesulah. The very second the mixture of blood hit the orb their was an explosion. Power surged from Sean into the orb, then to Buffy and back again. Suddenly their minds were full of images of everything Angelus had ever done. Sean gasped, he had never known a creature could be so evil, and for a moment his grip loosened. Then he remembered the vampire he had met in the alley, the same one that had given him a pep talk about this whole blaming Wesley scenario, which had led to him forgiving Wesley. He tightened his grip defiantly. He noticed Buffy doing the same. She must have had second thoughts as well.

"Sean, the rest!" Wesley yelled from behind. Sean took the cue and recited in unison with Buffy:

"Let it be so! Now!" Nothing could have prepared Sean for the blast of raw magic he experienced, it shot through him like a lightening bolt, powering through him and snatching all his magic energy and powering it toward the cage. To Buffy, however, getting struck by raw power was not entirely a new experience. She had felt something similar when her friends had performed an empowering spell to help her fight Adam. The cage and the orb of Thesulah both glowed simultaneously. Then, in a second they both stopped and the room went quiet.

"Did it work? Asked Cordelia."

"How do I know. But after just having every bit of energy sucked out of me, it had better!" Snapped Sean, then promptly fainted.

"Is he ok?" Asked Buffy, who didn’t look that good herself. She picked up a bandage they had put on he floor, and wrapped it around her cut hand.

"He’ll be fine, I hope so anyway," reassured Wesley.

Sean stirred and looked around, "Y’know, I think I should lie down."

He slumped in the chair by the computer. He proceeded to bandage his hand as well.

"Is there any way to tell whether this spell worked? Because I don’t want him waking up all evil, because last time he was evil he really insulted me!" Cordelia snapped.

Buffy sighed. She understood Cordelia’s anxiety, but clearly there was nothing to do but wait for Angel to wake up.

Part Two: Soul-Searching.

Angel woke up feeling very light headed. He must have been out of it for a good long while, because it was light, they had (for obvious reasons) performed the spell at night. So far, it seemed to have worked.

"He’s awake!" Called Wesley, who then turned his attention to Angel, "How are you?" He asked, the uncertainty in his voice obvious.

"Fine. And no, I’m not still evil," Angel answered.

"Good, do we take that as a sign of success?"

"I’m not sure, where’s Buffy?"

"Here," Her voice answered, and she walked in.

"Err, can I come out now?" Angel asked.

Buffy unlocked the cage and hugged him. He returned her attention.

"I think we need to talk," He said.

"So do I," Buffy replied.

Sean and Cordelia watched from a distance, Sean eventually left, getting bored and irritated by Cordelia’s constant moaning about this, that and the other. Angel walked into his office with Buffy, which meant he wouldn’t be sighted again for hours.

"Did it work?" Sean asked Wesley.

"Apparently so, I don’t know about the ability to walk in the daylight though. That we will find out tomorrow."

Buffy and Angel stood in the room, staring at each other, one clearly waiting for the other to speak. As usual, Angel took the lead.

"Sit down," He said gesturing to a chair near his desk. He sat down in the chair behind his desk and began.

"So, where does it go from here?"

"Look, you should understand that I do still love you, but I honestly don’t know if I can trust you again," Buffy said, not missing the hurt look that came across Angel’s face.

"I understand. You don’t have to get involved with me again, the only reason you were asked here was because Sean needed you for the spell," Angel said flatly.

"Angel, if this is what it appears to be, I would get involved with you. However, I don’t want it to be serious though. I want to make sure the spell is permanent and not just the same spell spelt backwards, if you know what I mean."

"But, you would start dating me again?" Angel asked hopefully.

"Sure. Your not my rebound guy, don’t worry. It’s just I don’t want us to get committed, that’s all."

"That sounds like something I would say!" Angel said, smiling.

"Maybe I did learn some stuff from you!" Buffy said, smiling as

well."No, I think you’ve just grown up."

"I’m not sure my mom would agree with you!"

The two smiled and kissed briefly, "I gotta go, I’m staying with my dad and he’s going to start wondering where I am."

"You go. You will get in touch soon right?" Angel asked.

"Promise," Buffy answered, and left. Angel stared after, and he smiled a bit. He was amazed she had even agreed to get back with him in any way, but she had and Angel was happy, for the moment.

Part Three: Coming Back To You.

Angel faltered at the door. "Are you absolutely sure this is a good idea, I’d rather not burn to cinders after a reunion with my girlfriend."

"Lets put it this way, you don’t sift your arse I’m going to spray with water of the holy kind. Which is it going to be?" Snapped Sean.

"Ok, I’m moving," Angel said, glaring at Sean, who stared defiantly back. Angel stepped carefully out of the door, raising his arms to his face slightly, anticipating the fire he expected to start the minute the sunlight hit him.

Nothing.

"It worked! It worked, whoo-hoo for me and Buffy!" Yelled Sean. Both Wesley and Cordelia looked impressed.

"Sean, thank you." Said Angel.

"Just doing my duty sheriff!" Sean said, smiling.

"Aren’t you going to tell Buffy?" Demanded Cordelia.

"Yeah, I was going to ring her now." Angel answered and went inside and picking up the phone.

"Really!" Buffy shrieked from the other end of the phone.

"Yes really, although Sean said it’s only made me tolerant to the sun, he recommends only minimal sunbathing."

"Man, that kid has a lot of power in him. How old is a he?"

"17, Wesley is insisting he stay and help us here, so he’s going to be enrolling in a high school here soon."

"Tell him not to go to Hemery, they don’t like people involved with the supernatural,"

"Yeah. I’ll see you next weekend then?" Angel asked, hopefully.

"Yeah. Love you"

"Love you too, bye"

Angel put the phone down and wandered out of his office, Sean was sat in a chair reading some soccer magazine, and he looked at Angel and smiled.

"What?" Angel asked.

"You’ve got ‘smitten love puppy’ face on."

"Have not!"

"You do. But that’s good, makes you look less threatening."

Angel rolled his eyes and wandered back into his office, and sat down. Then that thought came back to him: Is this trip really necessary? Yes, it had been. Angel smiled then, just a bit.

The End

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