“I must agree with you,” Wesley said. “I seriously doubt that our reluctant coworkers would have chosen us, had they known the truth.”

Spike nodded. “I see now what Thraid Alel meant when it said that we were unsuited.” Wesley glanced over at the former vampire. He was pleased to see that the soon-to-be-former blonde was looking a bit better, the deep red blush gone for now.

“I blushed easily when I was human,” Spike said, having heard what Wesley was thinking. “It was the bane of my existence.”

“The ladies always knew when you were interested,” Xander finished for him. “And the men always thought you had virgin’s ears, since you blushed around them all the time, too.” The young man sat up. “You liked them? Ugh. That’s…”

“Not all that uncommon,” Wesley interjected. “And might I remind you that I have the entirety of your mind inside mine? Your disgust isn’t entirely honest.”

::Damn it, this sucks!:: Xander thought. ::I am never going to have a private moment for the rest of my life!::

::Oh, We’ll be sure to stand outside the bathroom door,:: Wesley thought dryly. ::You may even shower by yourself, if you wish.::

::Be glad I’m not a vampire anymore, mate,:: Spike added. ::You really don’t want to be sharing a vampire’s mind. It’s bad enough you’ve got all my memories.::

::I know,:: Xander thought, mentally grimacing. ::You went for the blood in a major way.:: He paused for a moment. “So what’s with the soul? Yeah, I’ve got the memories, but…”

“It seemed like the thing to do at the time,:: Spike said, slipping back into telepathy midway through his sentence. ::I didn’t…::

Xander nodded, understanding all too well. One of the many side effects of the Altenalium was the complete sharing of minds. All three men now knew everything about each other—all of their memories, both good and bad. It made Xander very uncomfortable, for several reasons. None of them were the picture of mental health anyway, so multiplied by three the feelings of guilt, hurt, betrayal and regret were smotheringly heavy. It was also difficult for Xander to hold onto his hatred of Spike and his dislike of Wesley. Before, he could assume that Spike was an evil, uncaring monster. Now he knew that Spike had never meant to try to rape Buffy; he was consumed, obsessed even, but he never wanted to hurt her. The horrifying revulsion the unsouled Spike had felt towards his actions was almost enough to make Xander forgive him. Almost. The fact that the vampire had gone off and gotten his soul just to make himself suffer was the icing on the cake. He had to admire a guy who’d permanently saddle himself with the universe’s perfect torture device.

::We’re going to have to return soon,:: Spike thought. ::And it’s not going to be easy.::

::Easy?:: Wesley echoed. “Bloody hell, Spike, they’re going to be furious. Can you imagine Angel’s face when he finds out that we are the weapon? That the three of us are the Altenalium? He cannot have it or wield it? That he must stand aside while we fight this battle?”

“Or Buffy’s face, when she sees that Spike’s not a vampire anymore? Or when she finds out you’ve got a soul? And no chip?” They knew, somehow, that the Altenalium had destroyed the chip in Spike’s head, just as it had shattered Xander and Wesley’s fillings. No foreign matter remained in their bodies.

“They’re going to try to separate us, you know,” Spike commented. “None of them are going to want Xander to be anywhere near me.”

“Or me,” Wesley added. “If we have been gone any length of time, Angel is sure to have told them about Connor.” Xander and Spike winced in sympathy. They remembered just as vividly as Wesley all the gory details surrounding Connor. They were unable to be angry with him, knowing with absolute certainty that he had the child’s welfare at heart the entire time.

“Then we’ll have to make them see that they can’t,” Xander said firmly. “Can o’ whoop-ass and all.”

“Do you think that will work?” Spike inquired.

“We’re the Altenalium,” Xander shot back. “Yeah, we came and became that to fight the Vraiyl, but we work against a lot of other things too. And no, I don’t want to hurt any of them, but they can’t control us and they can’t separate us. You know what will happen if they do,:: Xander said, once again slipping into mindspeech.

::Still, we must be extremely careful,:: Wesley warned. ::The Powers seem to have chosen us for this, but Angel does not always do what The Powers want him to.::

::It’s hard to serve when you’re selfish,:: Xander replied. ::But I guess we should be going.:: He stood up, reaching a hand down to the others. “Er…before we go, maybe we should see just how far apart we can get.”

“Good idea,” Wesley said. “We’ve already established how we lose our senses when one of use leaves.”

“You two stay together,” Spike said, taking a step back. “I’m guessing that one can get farther from two together than if all three of us try to leave at the same time,:: He said, his physical voice fading and mindvoice rising as he moved further away. ::I can’t see a bloody thing,:: He thought. ::And I can barely stand.::

“We’re a bit better off,” Wesley said. “Although we’re quite deaf now. Come back slowly, until you can just start to see and speak again.””

They soon figured out that if two of them stayed side by side, the third could move about five feet away before the pain got really bad. Spike made a few more test trials and hypothesized that with practice, they could extend that distance quite a bit. That would make day-to-day things like bathing much easier. What was troubling was that when all three men separated, the distance was cut to about three feet. It was going to very hard to stay that close all the time. If Spike’s idea worked, however, maybe they could get to where they could at least move around a single room with ease.

“Ok, Wes, dig out that nasty pixie dust and zap us home,” Xander said. “And when we get there, we’re making a run for my apartment. I’ve got food, lots of it, and a nice comfy bed. No more sleeping on stone floors for me.”

“At least we don’t have to worry about the sun,” Spike murmured. He couldn’t express how happy he was that he’d be able to see a sunrise now. That joy almost overcame the constant pressure and anguish of his soul.

::We’ll be sure to wake up in time to see it tomorrow. We can even stay up to watch the sun set tonight if you’d like,:: Wesley thought.

Xander shrugged and agreed. He was a bit bothered by the fact that he automatically wanted to make the other two men happy. It wasn’t that he wanted them to suffer, but it felt weird being almost-commanded to do things like that. He was used to reserving such empathetic leanings to his loved ones.

::You don’t love us?:: Spike thought, not-quite-fake hurt tingeing his mind.

::Be quiet, not-fangy-anymore,:: Xander thought. ::Wes, how hard is it to throw some powder in the air?::

•••

“It’s been ten hours,” Buffy griped. “They messed up, didn’t they?”

Giles snarled. “We have been over this already, Buffy. There is no way to tell what the time differential is between the dimensions. They may have been dead for hundreds of years, or the may have been there for only a few minutes.”

“That’s so unhelpful,” Cordelia murmured. “We get the whole time thing. Been there, done that. Being stuck in Sunnydale just sucks.”

Fred watched the tense by-play between Giles, Buffy and Angel with more than a little worry. They were being very harsh towards Xander, Spike and Wesley. Oh, she understood why—each man had somehow gotten in the bad graces of all of the others. That didn’t justify their behavior. Fred herself wasn’t really happy with how she treated Wesley, but she never went so far as to wish him dead—unlike Angel. Wes was lucky that Anyanka wasn’t working at the moment, or the ex-Watcher would’ve suffered a horrible death. He might still, if Angel didn’t learn to keep his mouth shut when the vengeance demon arrived.

“Can’t I even try to slay these demons?” Buffy whined plaintively. “It’s boring here!”

“It is the middle of the day,” Giles grated out. “Why don’t you go practice? Or read? There are a great many volumes here that would prove useful to a Slayer.”

Buffy huffed and slumped in her chair. Giles knew just how to shut her up.

Gunn was about to offer to go get some food for the group when a sharp crack shot through the store. A loud pop followed and three bodies fell from waist height in the middle of the room, landing in a heap on the floor. Everyone jumped up to investigate the arrivals.

“They look alive,” Buffy said, peering down. “Well, as much as they were to start with.”

“Hah hah,” Xander muttered. ::She can be so…::

::Trying,:: Spike finished for him. They both loved Buffy, in somewhat-different ways, and neither wanted to get started on a rant.

Giles reached down to assist Xander, who was struggling to stand. Much to his surprise, Xander shied away from the touch and stood on his own, immediately reaching for the other men. Angel just watched warily as Wesley and Spike found their feet.

“So, did you get it?” Buffy asked.

“Where is it?” Angel added. “These demons aren’t going wait another ten hours to start attacking.”

“Ten hours?” Wesley murmured. “We were only gone ten hours?”

“It was longer for you,” Fred whispered. “I’m sorry.”

“Be quiet, Fred,” Angel ordered. Gunn and Fred both glared at the man.

Buffy ignored the pair. Angel had filled her in on exactly what Wesley had done—and to whom. The whole Connor-as-son thing was one hell of a shock, but she found herself actually liking the kid. He understood good and bad—human and demon. They even sparred a bit earlier. He was currently hanging back out of the way.

“What’s with your eyes, Wes?” Gunn asked, staring at Wesley’s now solid blue eyes.

“Side effect,” Xander answered for the other man.

“Of getting the Altenalium?” Giles inquired. “And yes, where is it?”

The three men took a step closer together, until they were almost on top of each other. “Funny thing, you know,” Xander started. “You made us think it was a sword or something.”

“It’s not,” Spike continued.

“Far from it,” Wesley added.

“Cute. Cryptic guys. Come on,” Buffy snarled. “Hand it over.”

The three men turned their eerie blue eyes towards the Slayer. “You really don’t want us to do that,” They said together.

“That was seriously freaky,” Cordelia whispered. “They sound like some cheesy horror movie.”

“Where’s the Altenalium?” Giles demanded. “Stop playing around!”

“Giles, we can’t give you the Altenalium,” Xander said softly. “It simply isn’t possible,” He continued, his voice joined by the others.

“Why not?” Angel shouted. “We need it.”

Wesley looked over at Angel. Why had he ever devoted his life to this man? “We shall wield it when its power is required.”

“Uh, no,” Buffy said flatly. “Me and Angel can do that. Just give it over.” She reached for Xander, knowing the little shit had it in a pocket somewhere. Now was not the time to start joking.

Spike saw Buffy reach for Xander and reacted instinctively. So did Wesley. Buffy found her path blocked by two very angry men, eyes glowing an unearthly blue. She reached out to push them away. Instead of hitting Spike’s shoulder, her hand was caught by Wesley, who easily sent her flailing back a few feet.

“I recommend NOT messing with any of us right now,” Xander suggested to the others. “We’re kinda touchy.”

“What the hell?” Gunn murmured. “Is this what carrying that weapon does to you?” If that was the case, maybe they didn’t need it after all.

“No,” Wesley replied.

“This is what being the Altenalium does to you,” Spike finished.

“Being the Altenalium?” Giles repeated. “What do you mean?”

“The Altenalium isn’t really a weapon,” Xander told the older man.

“It’s an energy force. An entity,” Wesley added.

“It cannot simply be wielded like a battle-axe,” Spike said softly.

“Or worn like armor,” Wesley murmured.

The only way you can use the Altenalium,” Xander finished. “Is to *be* the Altenalium.”

“And you made it very clear that we were not to return without it,” Wesley said.

“So we didn’t,” Spike barked. “We’ve returned.”

“Changed,” Xander pushed on. “We’ve brought you the Altenalium.”

“Which also happens to be ourselves,” Wesley said.

“Sorry if you wanted us to just hand it over and go away,” Spike spat.

“Not that we don’t want to do just that,” Xander continued. “But we can’t. This is a one-time, no going back take it or leave it deal.”

“But now what are we going to do?” Buffy moaned. “How are we supposed to get rid of the Vraiyl?”

“You aren’t,” Wesley muttered.

“We are,” Xander said. “Our job now.”

“No,” Angel growled. “You can’t—“ He stopped when the three men turned on him, entire bodies now glowing that odd blue color.

“We can and we will and you will not stop us,” Wesley declared. “You cannot stop us.”

“They were the people I saw fighting,” Cordelia reminded the others. “And if the Alty thing is good for anything besides neato lighting tricks, they’ll do their job, right?”

Spike, Xander and Wesley all nodded. “But for now, we’re going to get some sleep. It might have been ten hours for you, but I’d say we were over there at least two days and most of that time was spent in excruciating pain,” Xander stated. “The Vraiyl aren’t going to attack in ten hours,” He continued, knowing that Buffy, Giles and Angel were about to protest. “We can feel that too. So move aside, let us go, and we’ll get back to you after our beauty sleep.”

“Wesley stays with me,” Angel told them as the threesome moved towards the door. Fred and Gunn got out of their way so they could move through the others.

“He goes with me,” Xander replied evenly. “You got a problem with that, you can take it up with us later. We’re outta here.”