FEEDBACK: Yes, please.

RATING: PG-14 just to be safe.

CONTENT: Angst.

SPOILERS: The story is set after season two happened

SUMMARY: This is a Angel/Buffy what-if story. It starts off the morning after her Surprise party. What happens when Buffy wake's up to find out that all that happened from the time of her birthday to the time she sent angel to hell was just a dream, or was it??????

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these, they belong to an evil man named Joss Whedon.

NOTE: I have no idea what on earth that I am doing, all I know is that the fanfic must go on!

Part 1: What?

"O my god Angel I thought I had lost you forever."

"Don't worry It was just a dream," He said while caressing her hair.

"Angel don't ever leave me," She said with tears rolling down her face. She could not shake the feeling that the nightmare that she had just had was real.

"Don't worry, I will never leave as long as I live," He smiled lightly at her hoping it would lighten the saddening mood in the room.

With all of her strength, she was able to muster up a half-smile, and stopped crying. It felt like an echo through her mind, as all the emotions from her dream came back to her in full force. Then the tears returned as she rested her head on Angel's chest. Angel could not help but feel like that there was something more to this dream, then being a normal nightmare. It was true that Buffy had not been sleeping well the past couple of nights, but he never realized that it was this bad. He knew that when night fell he and Buffy were going to have to go to Giles and the gang to explain what happen to them. They had neglected to call or stop back when they had gone to the factory. They had been a bit tide up, and rather liked the idea of staying with each other.

"Tonight we are going to have to talk to Giles," He whispered into her ear. She slowly stopped crying by then, but her eyes were still glazed over as if one wrong word would have caused her to break down again.

"OK, tonight" Was all she could manage saying without busting into tears again.

Part 2: Where

Location: Library, an hour after sunset.

Buffy enters the Library with Angel right behind her. Everyone was siting around the table, still look for a way to stop the Judge. All except Xander.

"What happened to you both, we where all worried, and Xander went after you. "Giles said while cleaning his glasses.

"What!! You have got to be kidding me, why didn't you stop him. He is no match for them. The Judge is assembled, and we almost got killed going in there. Xander could be dead!" Buffy's tone was becoming more anger filled as the word came to her. "We have to go after him he might be still alive, and I am willing to take that change. "Buffy had to put all of the emotions aside that she was feeling from before. Even if it hurt, right now she could not be concerned with dreams, only with the fact she had to save Xander.

From behind Buffy, Angel finally spoke up, "I don't think you should just go storming in there without knowing how to stop the Judge. We nearly got killed when we went in there, and we had a plan. What do you think will happen when we going in there again? "By then Angel and Buffy were looking only at one another, like they where the only to in the room.

"Angel, I can't just sit here waiting for something to happened," by then she was whispering. As Angel slowly lowered his head, and was about to kiss Buffy in an attempt to dispel the pain that he knew she was feeling.

"Hello Guys!!," Cordelia started. " I don't mean to interrupt your Kodak moment, but we still don't know how to stop the Judge, and if we don't stop him soon everyone will be dead. God you to are acting like you too slept together," with that Buffy and Angel gave her a look that would kill. "O, I see how it is, while you should have been saving the world and stopping Xander from going off and getting killed, you were......"Cordelia was starting to get angary because they were off having their fun while Xander was getting killed.

"You what?" Giles was getting a little worried about what they were about to say. He always minded a little that she was with a vampire, even if it was Angel.

"That is not important right now, right now we worry about saving Xander and stopping the Judge. "Buffy stated firmly, since she really did not want to have to deal with having a talk about sex with her Watcher. "Do you have any ideas on how to stop him?"

"Well, yes, but I don't think you are going to like it." Giles did not know where to start but he knew that it was the only way to stop the Judge.

Part 3: Who?

Location: Factory

The Judge is knelling at a makeshift altar gathering his strength for his task at hand. Xander is chain to the adjacent wall struggling to get lose, but is failing miserably. While Spike and Drusilla just sit back watching the show before them. Suddenly Drusilla falls to the ground in pain, and begins talking incoherently.

"Dru, luv, what's wrong." Spike knew that it one of her visions coming, but was still a little concerned. Well, as concerned as Spike could get.

"My mind is swimming, it's all black, and they are screaming. The sound is so lovely!"

"Dru, what do you see?"

"Spike she's coming, all of the shadows will come and she will lead them."

"Who's coming luv, The Slayer?" Spike had such a questioning; he loved when Drusilla did this.

"Yes," Dru slowly stood up, walk over, and took Spikes' hand. "But she will no longer be pure, she will be as evil as we.

"I knew she was coming, she'll never be evil, she'll stop you all once and for all," unfortunately for Xander this did not just get the two vampires attention, but also the Judge.

"Quiet your whining, I will put you out of your misery and make the world clean of all its goodness." As the Judge got up to burn Xander, Spike stepped in and stopped him. "Why are you stopping me, he must be cleaned."

"Don't touch the bate, mate. You don't get to kill. At least not yet." With that Spike grinned widely at the thought of the slayer being evil. He also knew that if she became evil Angel would soon follow. "I have the feeling that the fun has just began."

Part 4: Hu?

Location: Library

Giles is pacing back and forth fumbling with him glasses look for the right words to say. "Well." He wanted to start off slow so that everything that he was going to tell Buffy would sink in. "There is only one way to really stop the Judge without getting burned to death. You have to be able to get close enough to disembowel him, and to do that you will have to have no humanity left in you." He stops to wonder for a moment the idea that he was going to propose, but before he could continue Buffy spoke up.

"What are you saying Giles." With a very concerned look on her face Buffy let Giles continue. she could not help but think to herself.

"The only person that was able to ever get close enough to the Judge to disembowel his was the leader of the last army that went against him, she was said to be soulless even though she was mortal, and had no attachments to witch craft. She was the one that actually disemboweled him. What I am proposing is that we resurrect her and put her spirit into your body. That way without losing your soul, you can go fight the Judge without being burned."

"Your right I don't like this idea. What happens when the Judge is gone an this leader, he wants to stay in my body." By then Buffy was becoming a little upset and from the look on Angel's face he agreed with her. Yet stayed silent like the others in the room.

"First of all it is not a he but a she. To the surprise of me she was the only person strong enough to defeat him. At first I though she might have been a slayer, but it mention the reason that she did not get burned was because she was soulless. A slayer can never be that evil without a demon inside of them, but a normal human can. Her name was Zeal. I was able to find a spell of resurrection that would place her spirit into your body until her goal is finished." Before Giles could finish Angel interjected.

"I hear of her before, to my recollection she has been resurrected several times. Each time from what I heard she would not leave the host until it was dead. Giles I don't think that you should let Buffy do this, I mean how can you be sure that, that spell of yours will ex spell Zeal before she makes Buffy her new home. I just think it's to risky." To Angel's surprise Buffy was the next to speak up.

"Angel, I don't like this idea just as much as you do, but there are really no other choices. While we are sitting here trying to decide what to do their out they're right now killing, and are looking for the easiest way to kill the most people." Buffy could no longer hold back her emotions; tears began to roll down her face. Everyone in the room, except Angel had a confused look on their face. None of the others knew what she had been going through the past few days, and now she didn't really what them to let them know.

As soon as Buffy began to cry, Angel went over to her a hugged her close. " Shh it'll be ok," Angel looks up at Giles for some answers that he knew he could give. "How can you be sure this thing won't take over Buffy?" Giles did not want to show the fact that he also was having doubts about the spell, but he knew he could not let that be known. "We will only have to hope that it works."

"OK, I'll do it." Angel could not help but stare at Buffy while she said those words. He was still hoping for her to oppose it, even though deep down inside he knew she had to do it. "Let's get started before I change my mind."

Part 5: How?

Angel wanted to speak to Buffy in private before she went threw with this. They both decided that Giles's office would be the closest thing to privacy that they would get.

Location: Giles's Office

"I still don't want you to do this. You could get hurt, I could lose you." Angel did not want to upset her, but he really did not know what to say. So he did the next best thing, he went over to her and hugged her close as he could.

"Angel, I love you." That was all that she could say. By then the tear had started to fall again.

"I love you." Angel slowly lowered his hand, and their lips began to meet. All of a sudden Buffy collapsed and almost fell to the ground with a small whimper coming from her lips. She would have fell if he had not been holding her so closely. "Buffy! What's wrong?" Angel was a bit shock, and slowly brought her over to the couch.

"I-I don't know, It feels like. O god not again. It's the dream. I can't even really remember it, but it feels like if being emotionally fucked." By then she had her arms around him sobbing into his chest.

"Why did this come so suddenly?"

"It was the way you just said 'I love you' it just trigger something in me, like, I don't know, like in the dream." She was slowly regaining composer.

"So you have been dream of me saying that I love you, then the dream can be that bad." Angel grinned lightly hoping that his words would confort her.

"It's nothing that I can't deal with. Right now we have to take care of the current problem. Now all I have to do is go out there and say 'Let's do this.' Buffy got up and walked to the door followed by Angel.

"Did I happen to mentioned I don't want you to do this."

"Ya, but I still have to."

Location: Library

Buffy sat across from Giles as he handed her a white candle, "Light this when I begin to chant, and blow it out when I stop. That is when Zeal will enter you, you will still be in there, but Zeal will be in control. Ready."

"Ready as I'll ever be." As she said this she looked at Angel and her gave her a weak smile. That was the best he could do given the pain he knew she was going through.

As soon as Giles was finished casting the spell, Buffy got up as if nothing had happen. But the look in her eyes told a different story. They were expecting Zeal to be a bit confused once she entered Buffy's body, but the looks that she gave every one was not the look of confusion, but of understanding.

She slowly walked towards Angel and began to explain. "I should warn you, even though this is not my body I carry with me telepathic abilities. That means you should be careful what you think around me." As soon as she said this she locked her eyes with Angel's. It was the kind of look Buffy gave him when she would not take no for an answer. Once she was standing right in front of him she continued to speak. "A vampire and a slayer together," she paused momentarily to grin. "Kinky."

Finally Giles began to speak up when he saw the on Angel's face that was just screaming 'HELP.'

"Now what do you want us to call you?" Giles really did not want to piss such a powerful spirit off; past experiences showed him that.

"Zeal will be fine," she began to pace the room, as she watched the people in the room encircle her, and then continued. "I already know my propose. Why is that?"

"Because as soon as your propose is fulfilled you will be ex-spelled from Buffy's body," Giles answered sheepishly. He knew that the spell would force her to do her task no matter what, and as soon as possible.

"Keep hoping." She answered with a large grin.

Part 6: You got to be Kidding!

Location: Factory

The Judge is pacing the room, now at full power. Spike is at the table writing some kind of ransom note. Drusilla and another vampire are toying with Xander by waving a glass of water in his face.

"Is the slayers' little friend getting thirsty!?" Said the new vampire.

"No, I don't need anything from you demons." Xander hadn't had anything to drink in over a day. He was about to give in to them, just to get a sip, so, he turn his head away as they waved the glass.

"Then you will never except anything from your dear Buffy again." Dru just stood there silently as she mused on the thought of how the slayers' heart was going to be engulfed in darkness.

"What are you talking about? Buffy isn't a demon." Xander was becoming a little frantic since he thought Buffy should have come to save him by now. < Maybe they were right, maybe she had become evil > But as soon as that thought entered his head it left.

Spike slowly rolled over to Drusilla and the other vampire. "You, Ann. Come here." "Well, actually my name…" Before Annabel could finished, Spike continued. "I don't care what your name is, I want you to take this note to the slayer." "But any vamp that goes near the slayer gets staked. I rather huge the Judge then deliver this note."

By then Spike was getting a little pissed at this refusal from this know it all vampire. "I said 'want' which means you don't get a choice, " Spike went and ran over her foot with his wheel chair. "Now go before Drusilla gets a craving for some eyes."

"I'm already gone." That was the last thing that Annabel said before she halled ass out of the factory. She had this feeling that when she gave the note to the slayer she was going to get staked.

Spike then turned his attention to Drusilla and Xander. "Now, what is this about the slayer becoming evil. What else have you seen, luv?"

"Not becoming pet, is. The darkness is eating her heart."

"Dru, what is this darkness." Spike was slowly moving closer to Drusilla as she spoke.

"The dark queen has returned."

As soon as Drusilla mentioned the words 'dark queen' the Judge ended his pacing, and began muttering to himself. "No, this can't be, she's dead."

Spike was becoming very confused, but Drusilla seemed to know exactly what the Judge was muttering about. "What the bloody hell are you both talking about."

"She's returned to rule. The stars are screaming her name. Zeal." By then Dru had walked over to Spike and sat down on his lap. She just sat and mused about the dark things this new evil could do.

The Judge got extremely freaked at the mentioning of her named and ended up repeating it to himself. 'Zeal.'

"What's the matter with you? If this is a new powerful evil, that's a good thing. You know help isn't on the way, and all that rot." Spike could not understand why the Judge would fear something evil.

"NO! Her evil is twisted! She believes that there should only be one evil. Her. She was the one who beheaded me, then her army dissembled my body. Because of her I was unable to clean the world of goodness. She had the pieces scatted so that I could not reassemble. She was mortal, and she destroyed me! How in hell is she ALIVE!"

Drusilla got up off of Spike and walked over to the Judge with a smile, "Because they resurrected her in the slayer. Now she is coming to my party."

Xander and Spike was floored by this knowledge. All Xander could do was hang there on the wall, but Spike knowing that the slayer was possessed by the one spirit who destroyed the Judge originally worried him greatly. A sudden sinking feeling came over him, but decided to compose himself since Drusilla was so over joyed at this event. "Pet, why are you so happy about this?"

"Cause she's not going to kill him, this time." Dru responded with a smile on her face.

Part 7: Sometime You Just Got to Think

Location: Library

Zeal is wandering the room thumbing threw the shelves. The only other people in the room are Angel and Giles. Giles had sent the gang home to wait for him to call them when they had rescued Xander.

"Giles I'm sensing something bad, how do you know Zeal will leave Buffy's body after she defeats the Judge?" Angel was wearing a concerned look on him face, and could not help but repeatedly look over his shoulder at Buffy. There was a feeling inside of him that the spell might have gone wrong.

"Angel calm yourself, we will know the out come when it comes. Right now our concern is to destroy the Judge." Giles said as he removed his glasses to clean them again. Anyone who would have seen him would have noticed that he was completely stresses out, and losing faith in the spell that they had used to ensure the return of Buffy.

"I hope you both realize that I can here every word that you are saying." Zeal said as she walked between the two. Then turned to Angel and looked into his eyes seemingly peering into his soul. "And every thing that your are thinking. Do you mine if I speak to you for a moment." She never broke eye contact with him. It seemed to unnerved him for a moment, but he still couldn't help to look upon her as if she was Buffy. Finally when she broke eye contact with him, she looked at Giles and spoke. "Alone."

Giles gave a concerned look at Angel, but Angel soon waved away Giles doubts about leaving the two alone with a few simple words. "I'll be fine." With that Giles left, and entered his office.

"What do you want?" Angel questioned.

"A little harsh don't you think. I want to talk about us."

"There is no us. There is only me and Buffy, you might be in her body, but your not her."

"O but I am. She is still inside here screaming to get control. She doesn't like me very much in here. I don't blame her. I know all of her thoughts, all of her memories, and all about what you two did lasts night. Even that little nightmare she had, or was it. Knowing this helps me greatly, it will make it easier when I make my mark, and change things. But it still seems to piss her off greatly. She knows what I want to do. She knows who I want." With that Zeal cupped his jaw slowly lowering his face to hers.

"What do you want?" Angel whispered.

"You." Slowly their lips came together, but just as quickly, Angel had a moment of clarity. < What am I thinking? Buffy is not in control here, I can't do this, this is wrong. > But before he could respond to his own thoughts the Library doors burst opened and Zeal pulled away for the kiss.

Behind the door was Annabel in full game face. < Hell, if I'm going to die delivering some stupid note I'm going out with a bang. > Annabel could not help but think as she lunged at Zeal.

With one quick movement Zeal slammed her fist into Annabel's face. Zeal could not help but smile at Annabel's thought. This pitiful young vampire was not her goal, and she had no intention to destroy her. "Get up. NOW!" With an amused look on her face she helped Annabel up. "So, you think you have come here to die. You shouldn't worry about that. I'm not going to kill you. Just give me the note and leave. Before I change my mind."

Both Annabel and Angel had confused looks on their faces. Angel for the fact that Zeal was never known to be merciful. Annabel because she didn't even had a clue to what was going on. With that Annabel dropped the note on the ground, and halled ass in the other direction. Just in case it was a trick she was not going to stick around to find out.

Slowly walking over, Zeal kneeled down, and picked up the note. It read:

Slayer, so you will be joining us soon. Wonderful,

Come to the factory with Angel tomorrow night at

Sundown. Fail to come, and your boy Xander will

Die.

-Spike

"What does it say?" With that Zeal handed him the note. With a quick glance at the note he had another questioning. "What are we going to do?"

"You see they are playing my game now. The sun will be up soon. You should go; I'll come for you right before sunset. We will go there at sundown, and we'll bring them the death that they have asked for." With one more glance into Angel's eyes, then finished her answer. "To all of them." With that she turned her back to Angel, and walked into Giles's office to tell him what was going on.

Part 8: Think and the Stars will fall.

Location: Angel's Apartment

Time: An hour before sunset

Zeal was about to knock on the door, when Angel just opened it, and motioned her to enter. She looked at him with a confused look then spoke.

"How did you know I was there?"

"I could here your foot steps, and I can always tell when you're near. I mean, I can always tell when Buffy is near. Where did you get that from?" Motioning to the katana blade attached to her waist.

"O this old thing." Looking up at him with a sarcastic smile playing across her face. "When I asked Giles for a sword this is what he gave me. I never recalled swords being so light." Saying as she pulled the katana out, and holding it level.

"It a katana, it's Japanese. The blade is so light weight to make one on one combat easier." With that answer Zeal put the blade away.

"So, we do have some time before we have to go to the factory. I can think a few things that we can do in an hour, and it doesn't involve talking." Before Angel could step back, Zeal moved in closer invading his personal space. Zeal had a look of sadness in her eyes, the same look that Buffy had when she awoke from that nightmare. "You know it's not cheating since this is her body, and she is still inside."

"We can't, Buffy's not in control, and I'm not going to betray her like that." He could still see Buffy in those eyes, but had to keep reminding himself that Zeal was the one in control.

"Fine, I understand what love means to you. You see I'm not as soul less as everyone thinks." By then it seem that Zeal had given up trying to seduce Angel, and had moved on to a conversation.

"What do you mean your not soul less." As he spoke one eyebrow rose and he motioned for her to sit on the couch. Moments later he sat beside her, waiting for an explanation.

"You see, I was born with a soul, but life gave my heart so much pain that it froze. I could not stand life any longer, so I just gave up. Rather then killing myself, I murdered the weak, and made the strong my army. I killed any and all that opposed me. I lived for the kill; I loved every minute of it. I had rives of blood flowing at my feet. But then something changed."

Angel had a questioning look on his face then spoke. "What changed?"

"The Judge came. He wanted to destroy the world; the empire that I had build was to be destroyed at his hands. He offered me a place at his side since he knew he could not burn me, when I refuse he sent me away with a small sect of my army. The rest of my army died at his hand, or should I say burn. The world seemed to be ending; I could not take the madness any longer. So I went back to find everything dead at my feet. At a time I would have rejoice at the site, but this was my own, these were the people that I control, that would die for me…" Zeal's voice began to fade, but then she soon continued. It seemed her talking about her past cause her pain, but that didn't seem to stop her. "And they did. Almost all of my army was dead, all except for the sect that traveled with me when I was exiled. Then I faced him, we destroyed each other, I beheaded him, and he beat me to a bloody pulp. With my last breath I ordered my army ripe his body apart, and to take to pieces as far apart as they could be, to the ends of the Earth. I had to ensure that he would never return, even if it cost me my life." She look away from him trying to cover her tear filled eyes.

"I had no idea." Angel place his hand on her shoulder trying to con-fort her, but it seemed to be failing. Then she finally turned back to he, and began to kiss him passionately. Only this time Angel was not thinking quick enough to remember that Buffy was not in control. Zeal realized this soon and started to take full advantage, and leaned in to deepen the kiss. Soon looping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. < What am I thinking, this is not Buffy, I have to stop. > Angel soon pushed her off of him, and wiped his mouth with his hand in disgust. "We can't do this, I can't do this to her."

Zeal got up with an amused look on her face. "O but you did." She said with an amuse grin and began to laugh. "You an all your kind are so pitiful. You hear a said story, and see a few tears; then you can't stop yourself. You see I just want to see if I could push into you betraying her, and I did. You showed that in the kiss. Buffy had so much faith in you that you hold your self back for a few days, but I guess she was wrong. Now even she knows it, remember she's still in here."

Angel was angered to say the least, but he could not let her get to him. He got up off the couch; he was tired of waiting to leave. He decide that they would travel to the factory threw the sewers until the sun was fully set. "Come on we're leaving."

"But the sun hasn't set." Zeal knew what he was planing, but did not enjoy the idea of traveling threw the sewers.

"We're going now!" Angel was still trying to contain his anger for her actions from before. He knew that he had to keep his mind at the task at hand, and that wasn't going to put up with Zeal's bullshit.

"Fine!" Zeal answered, seemingly just as angered at him for not reacting to her charms and tricks. With that they both stormed out of the apartment, headed for the sewers.