Wesley found himself staring at the girl on the screen. Despite what his daughter said, that was no child - that was a teenager and it looked like his sister. He didn't understand why, but there it was. As Regan started talking about some boy she had known in the dimension she had been taken to live in after she had been rescued from Lilah, he continued to look at the image.
Then Regan closed the laptop and he blinked, looking over at her. What? Oh, yes, she was talking about when she had lived with the demons that had taught her to be a soul guardian. As she told him about the girl with shape shifting powers, his brow furrowed and he turned his head to look back at the image, only to remember that she had closed the screen.
"So you think this girl was sent to protect your mother's soul, the way that you were sent to protect Angel's?" he asked softly, suddenly realizing that it did make sense. Although why would he see his sister? Because she had been his first true protector when he had been a child? Fred had been Regan's, fighting to keep Lilah from taking her. "She made sure her soul was safe and Illyria didn't destroy it."
But why had the Powers kept this from them for so long? Why had the hidden this book and let them think that Fred had been destroyed? Why?
He shook his head. There really was no time to think about that now. They had to focus on finding Fred and getting her back. He looked at the book for a moment and then stood up, hurrying to his bedroom and opening the chest of weapons he kept in there. From the bottom, he withdrew the source book he had taken with him when he and Regan had left Wolfram & Hart and Los Angeles. He had thought it might come in handy and figured after everything that had happened, he was owed at least this.
He returned to the kitchen and set it down on the table, along with several notebooks he had grabbed. "To cross-reference anything we might find in the Journals," he told her. "I'm going to need your expertise in soul guardians, though, so we can figure out where your mother's guardian might hidden her soul."
"Let's get to work," he told her, flipping the book open.
Regan looked at the books and notes on the table. She'd never really helped with researching before and didn't know where to start. When her dad asked about soul guardians, Regan nodded. That was a question she could answer.
"A guardian doesn't only protect a soul, they also decide when and how a soul comes back. There always has to be a constant balance in the universe so someone connected to how the person died, or lost their soul, has to die. Lilah died so Angel got his soul back. And a soul can be hidden for years and handed down from guardian to guardian. We only deal with souls of people who are worth saving and still have things to do," she explained before opening a book herself.
The two of them worked for almost an hour before Regan found a passage about souls and Illyria. "According to this, when Illyria infects a soul, it has to go to a different plane to be cleansed. Then it's guarded until the soul guardian decides to bring it back. But, to get it, you have to kill Illyria on sacred ground and cast some spell. Illyria will be sent back to the Deeper Well, and the soul guardian will release the soul," Regan said. "There's some coordinates for the sacred place. I think it's in England."
As his daughter spoke, Wesley jotted notes about the Soul Guardians for reference later. He knew a bit, of course, from his readings over the years and from the demon who had raised her and brought her back to him and Fred. Mainly, though, that had been in regards to protected souls being those people found worthy and still needed. He hadn't realized that someone needed to die in order for a person's soul to be brought back, but thinking about it in regards to Angel, it made sense.
Angelus killed the gypsy girl, and Angel's soul was returned. Angelus killed Jenny Calendar, and Willow was able to re-ensoul him. Angelus killed Lilah Morgan, and again, his soul was able to return, this time by Regan, acting as his guardian.
He didn't like the idea that someone had to die for Fred to be back, however. Unless it was Illyria. Would killing her count, he wondered? She--it was connected to Fred - it was residing in her body, so would killing her work? He knew they needed to do more research to find out because they didn't even know how to kill Illyria from the moment.
Opening the Journals, they spent some time reading through, trying to find relevant passages. Wesley cross-referenced with the source book a few times, but nothing really seemed to pan out until Regan finally found something explaining what happened when Illyria infected a soul that was then saved. Furrowing his brow, he looked over at the passage, rereading it.
"Those coordinates are very near the Deeper Well in the Cotswolds," he said, recognizing them from when they had been trying to figure out what Illyria was. Closing the source book for a moment, he called up the map he had used then and consulted it, pinpointing where they had to go. "Haile's Abbey."
The abbey had been in use for 300 years starting in the mid-1200s and had only been home to 25 monks over the years. Such small numbers usually indicated a very special place. It was a museum now, he knew, though he highly doubted that the National Trust realized just how important the land was.
"So we know where," Wesley said, rubbing his temple for a moment before looking over at Regan. "But we still need to find the spell, plus figure out how to kill Illyria. It's practically impervious to weapons."
He sighed. "And we have to figure out how to get it to England. I have a feeling it won't go willing."
As her dad spoke, Regan nodded and looked at the map he’d called up. She’d never been to England before, even though she really wanted to go in the past. Her dad had always told her they would someday. It looked like that someday was coming sooner than they thought. “I guess we need to find the spell then,” she said as she picked up another book and started to look through it.
Another few hours were spent on looking through the books. Regan rubbed her eyes and sighed then the text started to run together. She couldn’t see how her dad could do this all day and night at times. It was obvious she didn’t have the discipline he did. With another sigh, she push the book away and stood from the table to stretch.
It was then that she noticed her dad’s tea cup was empty so she went over to the kettle to make some more. Once it was finished, Regan grabbed herself a can of soda from the fridge and brought both beverages back to the table. She pulled another book over to her and started to lazily flip through it.
“Oh!” she suddenly said. “I think I found the spell!”
Regan pushed the book closer to her dad, being careful not to spill the soda or tea, and showed it to him. There was a passage about how Illyria had to be killed. ‘The child of the one infected will be the one who kills Illyria,” she said, rather proud that she’d found it. “Sounds pretty simple. We just have to find this child who’s the child of…”
Regan trailed off and her face paled.
“Oh god…I-I’m the child of the one infected! How am I supposed to kill it? There’s nothing that can kill it! We know this because Spike and Angel couldn’t even kill it. Even using that ray gun on it didn’t kill it. I can’t do this! Why does it have to be me? Why can’t it be some super strong demony type thing?” she rambled off in one breath.
When Regan brought a fresh cup of tea to the table for him, Wesley looked up at her with a grateful smile. "Thank you, sweetheart," he told her. He was starting to feel the effects of having spent so long researching, and he was sure she was too. It was never easy to focus so long, and he was used to it. It was even tougher considering what was at stake, which was part of why he didn't want to give up until they had all the answers.
Looking at what Regan showed him, he nodded when he saw what indeed appeared to be the spell that he would have to say when Illyria was killed in order to bring Fred back. There was still the question of how to kill it, though.
Then Regan read the passage below the spell out loud. The child of the one infected will be the one who kills Illyria. The child of the one infected.
Regan.
Feeling his throat tighten, Wesley pulled Regan to him when she started to ramble uncertainly. He held her close and looked at the book over her shoulder. Why her? Why his daughter? Was this the only way?
"Regan," he said, nudging her face so she would look at him. "If this is the only way...I won't let you go through this alone, I swear to you. I'm your father, and when you were born I said I'd protect you and be there for you. So I will be there with you, and we will find the way to do this."
He glanced at the book again and picked it up. As the passage continued, there was a mention of an ancient weapon that was used to kill Illyria in its pure demon form. Wesley furrowed his brow, recalling something that Rupert had told him when he and the Scoobies had faced the First in Sunnydale, and picked up the source book to call up the information on Illyria that he had found when Fred had been infected.
"Illyria was the last pure demon killed," he read. "Regan, look. Illyria was the last pure demon to be killed. That scythe that Rupert told us about, the one that Buffy found and Willow used to call all the Slayers? She was told it had been used to kill the last pure demon on Earth. That's what we have to use to kill Illyria."
Regan tightly held to her father. She felt the energy in her building up and her body started to tremble a little. Taking a deep breath, she pushed it down just as her dad started talk. She turned her head and looked down at the book before nodding. She remembered Giles telling them about the scythe.
"I know Giles still has it. They took it to England and Willow put a protection spell on it. Giles said it's hidden," Regan quietly said. Looking up at her dad, she placed her hand on his cheek. "We have to do this. I don't care if I have to train all day and night so I can control the scythe. We have to do it. Mom's out there and somewhere and we need her to come home."
She carefully slipped out of his arms and went out into the living room. They had some calls to make if they wanted everything to fall into place. They needed to speak to Giles about going to England, and they needed to speak to Spike because he would know where Illyria was.
Picking up the cordless phone, and her dad's cell phone, she came back to the table and placed them both down. "Who do you want to call? Spike or Giles? I have Spike's cell phone number." It sometimes amused her, thinking of a vampire with a cell phone. "The last time I called him, he told me he was in the middle of shagging a bint and couldn't talk." She blinked and looked at her dad. "What does shagging a bint mean?"
As he held Regan, Wesley felt her starting the tremble and knew that she was fighting to keep herself under control, so he just held her tightly and just continued to talk to her. He didn't want to put her more on the edge by drawing attention to it, so he let her deal with it, and soon, her trembles began to lesson.
"I know we do," he replied when she said that they needed to do this, no matter what she had to learn. If there was any chance of getting Fred back, he had to let her try because he knew Regan would never forgive him if he didn't. She was right - they neeeded her. She had been their heart for so long, and even though they had managed to survive without her, they hadn't really lived. "We'll work together on this. You and me and anyone else we can get to help. I'm sure Rupert will."
He let Regan go when she slipped out of his arms and looked back at the book, flipping through the pages to see if there was any other information to definitively point to the scythe as the weapon. There was nothing specific, but it did seem to be the only possibility.
Regan came back a few moments later with the phones, asking him who he wanted to call. He was about to say he'd call Rupert when suddenly, his daughter - his eleven-year-old daughter - used some rather crude British slang he hadn't ever wanted to hear coming out of her mouth. Ever.
"Sha--that means something that I really didn't want to have to explain to you until you were older," he said with a sigh. Although, considering how fast Regan had grown up...at least comparitively, he wasn't sure it might not be a good idea to explain to her. "At the risk of getting us into a conversation we might not have time for, shagging is slang for having sex, which I'm sure Spike has probably talked about in front of you since he seems to have spoken about everything else. As for 'bint', that's a rather derogatory word for a woman, and I'd rather never hear you say it again. I don't even like saying it."
He then picked up the cordless and handed it to Regan. "And even though I'd rather you never talk to him again, I think you should talk to Spike. I do, and I'm liable to use several other words I don't think I want you hearing or knowing quite yet."
Sex? Regan tilted her head a little and was about to ask her father what sex really was. She knew it was something two people did but that was it. But, her dad looked really flustered so she decided to just make the phone call. "And you should like Spike. He's cool because he reads 'Harry Potter'! What other reason would he call you Percy for?" she asked before she slipped into the living room.
She dialed Spike's number and he soon answered. "Spike? It's Regan," she said.
"Hey little bit! How're ya?" he asked.
"Good," she said. "The reason I'm calling is because my dad and I have figured out a way to bring my mom back but we need Illyria for it and we don't know where she is."
"Wait...you figured out how to bring your mum back?"
"Yes."
"Wow. Uh, Illyria is actually with me. Think she rather fancies me," Spike said. "Whatcha need her for?"
"I have to kill it," Regan quietly said. "I have to kill it on this sacred ground near the Deeper Well. Do you think you could talk it into coming there?"
"Don't know, Reg. I'll try. When ya going?" he asked.
"I'm not sure yet but my dad is talking to Giles right now. Maybe you two can come to New Haven and all of us go together?" She suggested.
"I can do that. 'M up in New York right now. We can be down there by tomorrow, kitten," Spike said.
Regan chewed on her bottom lip. "You can't stay here with it," she finally said.
"I know," Spike said in hushed tone. "I'll call you when we arrive."
"Thanks, Spike," Regan said, her voice cracking a little. This was really going to happen. As long as Illyria cooperated.
"Not a problem little bit. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, and tell your dad he's wanker," Spike said before hanging up the phone.
Regan shrugged and ended the call and stayed in the living room until her dad finished with his call.
Then Regan closed the laptop and he blinked, looking over at her. What? Oh, yes, she was talking about when she had lived with the demons that had taught her to be a soul guardian. As she told him about the girl with shape shifting powers, his brow furrowed and he turned his head to look back at the image, only to remember that she had closed the screen.
"So you think this girl was sent to protect your mother's soul, the way that you were sent to protect Angel's?" he asked softly, suddenly realizing that it did make sense. Although why would he see his sister? Because she had been his first true protector when he had been a child? Fred had been Regan's, fighting to keep Lilah from taking her. "She made sure her soul was safe and Illyria didn't destroy it."
But why had the Powers kept this from them for so long? Why had the hidden this book and let them think that Fred had been destroyed? Why?
He shook his head. There really was no time to think about that now. They had to focus on finding Fred and getting her back. He looked at the book for a moment and then stood up, hurrying to his bedroom and opening the chest of weapons he kept in there. From the bottom, he withdrew the source book he had taken with him when he and Regan had left Wolfram & Hart and Los Angeles. He had thought it might come in handy and figured after everything that had happened, he was owed at least this.
He returned to the kitchen and set it down on the table, along with several notebooks he had grabbed. "To cross-reference anything we might find in the Journals," he told her. "I'm going to need your expertise in soul guardians, though, so we can figure out where your mother's guardian might hidden her soul."
"Let's get to work," he told her, flipping the book open.
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"A guardian doesn't only protect a soul, they also decide when and how a soul comes back. There always has to be a constant balance in the universe so someone connected to how the person died, or lost their soul, has to die. Lilah died so Angel got his soul back. And a soul can be hidden for years and handed down from guardian to guardian. We only deal with souls of people who are worth saving and still have things to do," she explained before opening a book herself.
The two of them worked for almost an hour before Regan found a passage about souls and Illyria. "According to this, when Illyria infects a soul, it has to go to a different plane to be cleansed. Then it's guarded until the soul guardian decides to bring it back. But, to get it, you have to kill Illyria on sacred ground and cast some spell. Illyria will be sent back to the Deeper Well, and the soul guardian will release the soul," Regan said. "There's some coordinates for the sacred place. I think it's in England."
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Angelus killed the gypsy girl, and Angel's soul was returned. Angelus killed Jenny Calendar, and Willow was able to re-ensoul him. Angelus killed Lilah Morgan, and again, his soul was able to return, this time by Regan, acting as his guardian.
He didn't like the idea that someone had to die for Fred to be back, however. Unless it was Illyria. Would killing her count, he wondered? She--it was connected to Fred - it was residing in her body, so would killing her work? He knew they needed to do more research to find out because they didn't even know how to kill Illyria from the moment.
Opening the Journals, they spent some time reading through, trying to find relevant passages. Wesley cross-referenced with the source book a few times, but nothing really seemed to pan out until Regan finally found something explaining what happened when Illyria infected a soul that was then saved. Furrowing his brow, he looked over at the passage, rereading it.
"Those coordinates are very near the Deeper Well in the Cotswolds," he said, recognizing them from when they had been trying to figure out what Illyria was. Closing the source book for a moment, he called up the map he had used then and consulted it, pinpointing where they had to go. "Haile's Abbey."
The abbey had been in use for 300 years starting in the mid-1200s and had only been home to 25 monks over the years. Such small numbers usually indicated a very special place. It was a museum now, he knew, though he highly doubted that the National Trust realized just how important the land was.
"So we know where," Wesley said, rubbing his temple for a moment before looking over at Regan. "But we still need to find the spell, plus figure out how to kill Illyria. It's practically impervious to weapons."
He sighed. "And we have to figure out how to get it to England. I have a feeling it won't go willing."
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Another few hours were spent on looking through the books. Regan rubbed her eyes and sighed then the text started to run together. She couldn’t see how her dad could do this all day and night at times. It was obvious she didn’t have the discipline he did. With another sigh, she push the book away and stood from the table to stretch.
It was then that she noticed her dad’s tea cup was empty so she went over to the kettle to make some more. Once it was finished, Regan grabbed herself a can of soda from the fridge and brought both beverages back to the table. She pulled another book over to her and started to lazily flip through it.
“Oh!” she suddenly said. “I think I found the spell!”
Regan pushed the book closer to her dad, being careful not to spill the soda or tea, and showed it to him. There was a passage about how Illyria had to be killed. ‘The child of the one infected will be the one who kills Illyria,” she said, rather proud that she’d found it. “Sounds pretty simple. We just have to find this child who’s the child of…”
Regan trailed off and her face paled.
“Oh god…I-I’m the child of the one infected! How am I supposed to kill it? There’s nothing that can kill it! We know this because Spike and Angel couldn’t even kill it. Even using that ray gun on it didn’t kill it. I can’t do this! Why does it have to be me? Why can’t it be some super strong demony type thing?” she rambled off in one breath.
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Looking at what Regan showed him, he nodded when he saw what indeed appeared to be the spell that he would have to say when Illyria was killed in order to bring Fred back. There was still the question of how to kill it, though.
Then Regan read the passage below the spell out loud. The child of the one infected will be the one who kills Illyria. The child of the one infected.
Regan.
Feeling his throat tighten, Wesley pulled Regan to him when she started to ramble uncertainly. He held her close and looked at the book over her shoulder. Why her? Why his daughter? Was this the only way?
"Regan," he said, nudging her face so she would look at him. "If this is the only way...I won't let you go through this alone, I swear to you. I'm your father, and when you were born I said I'd protect you and be there for you. So I will be there with you, and we will find the way to do this."
He glanced at the book again and picked it up. As the passage continued, there was a mention of an ancient weapon that was used to kill Illyria in its pure demon form. Wesley furrowed his brow, recalling something that Rupert had told him when he and the Scoobies had faced the First in Sunnydale, and picked up the source book to call up the information on Illyria that he had found when Fred had been infected.
"Illyria was the last pure demon killed," he read. "Regan, look. Illyria was the last pure demon to be killed. That scythe that Rupert told us about, the one that Buffy found and Willow used to call all the Slayers? She was told it had been used to kill the last pure demon on Earth. That's what we have to use to kill Illyria."
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"I know Giles still has it. They took it to England and Willow put a protection spell on it. Giles said it's hidden," Regan quietly said. Looking up at her dad, she placed her hand on his cheek. "We have to do this. I don't care if I have to train all day and night so I can control the scythe. We have to do it. Mom's out there and somewhere and we need her to come home."
She carefully slipped out of his arms and went out into the living room. They had some calls to make if they wanted everything to fall into place. They needed to speak to Giles about going to England, and they needed to speak to Spike because he would know where Illyria was.
Picking up the cordless phone, and her dad's cell phone, she came back to the table and placed them both down. "Who do you want to call? Spike or Giles? I have Spike's cell phone number." It sometimes amused her, thinking of a vampire with a cell phone. "The last time I called him, he told me he was in the middle of shagging a bint and couldn't talk." She blinked and looked at her dad. "What does shagging a bint mean?"
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"I know we do," he replied when she said that they needed to do this, no matter what she had to learn. If there was any chance of getting Fred back, he had to let her try because he knew Regan would never forgive him if he didn't. She was right - they neeeded her. She had been their heart for so long, and even though they had managed to survive without her, they hadn't really lived. "We'll work together on this. You and me and anyone else we can get to help. I'm sure Rupert will."
He let Regan go when she slipped out of his arms and looked back at the book, flipping through the pages to see if there was any other information to definitively point to the scythe as the weapon. There was nothing specific, but it did seem to be the only possibility.
Regan came back a few moments later with the phones, asking him who he wanted to call. He was about to say he'd call Rupert when suddenly, his daughter - his eleven-year-old daughter - used some rather crude British slang he hadn't ever wanted to hear coming out of her mouth. Ever.
"Sha--that means something that I really didn't want to have to explain to you until you were older," he said with a sigh. Although, considering how fast Regan had grown up...at least comparitively, he wasn't sure it might not be a good idea to explain to her. "At the risk of getting us into a conversation we might not have time for, shagging is slang for having sex, which I'm sure Spike has probably talked about in front of you since he seems to have spoken about everything else. As for 'bint', that's a rather derogatory word for a woman, and I'd rather never hear you say it again. I don't even like saying it."
He then picked up the cordless and handed it to Regan. "And even though I'd rather you never talk to him again, I think you should talk to Spike. I do, and I'm liable to use several other words I don't think I want you hearing or knowing quite yet."
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She dialed Spike's number and he soon answered. "Spike? It's Regan," she said.
"Hey little bit! How're ya?" he asked.
"Good," she said. "The reason I'm calling is because my dad and I have figured out a way to bring my mom back but we need Illyria for it and we don't know where she is."
"Wait...you figured out how to bring your mum back?"
"Yes."
"Wow. Uh, Illyria is actually with me. Think she rather fancies me," Spike said. "Whatcha need her for?"
"I have to kill it," Regan quietly said. "I have to kill it on this sacred ground near the Deeper Well. Do you think you could talk it into coming there?"
"Don't know, Reg. I'll try. When ya going?" he asked.
"I'm not sure yet but my dad is talking to Giles right now. Maybe you two can come to New Haven and all of us go together?" She suggested.
"I can do that. 'M up in New York right now. We can be down there by tomorrow, kitten," Spike said.
Regan chewed on her bottom lip. "You can't stay here with it," she finally said.
"I know," Spike said in hushed tone. "I'll call you when we arrive."
"Thanks, Spike," Regan said, her voice cracking a little. This was really going to happen. As long as Illyria cooperated.
"Not a problem little bit. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, and tell your dad he's wanker," Spike said before hanging up the phone.
Regan shrugged and ended the call and stayed in the living room until her dad finished with his call.
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