Changing Faces

by Kelly Rowe

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and all other characters (except those I make up) are the absolute property of Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy and Warner Bros (If I owned them, the events of Buffy season 4 or most of season 3 wouldn't have occurred).

SUMMARY: Buffy's been dead for 20 years, but a dream Angel has tells him something different. Has Buffy been reborn?

SPOILERS: All B/A up to and including IWRY. Some BTVS season 4 and ATS season 1 and 2.

TIMELINE: Approx. 20 years after Buffy's death (season 4 BTVS).

DISTRIBUTION: You want you can have it; just tell me where you put it.

PAIRING: Buffy/Angel (later Emma/Angel)

CATEGORY: AU, Action, Romance. Buffy/Angel/Charmed crossover.

NOTE: Emma is Buffy's name in her new life.

NOTE 2: The songs used are:

NOTE 3: EVENTS:

NOTE 4: This fic is loosely based on a challenge I sent out earlier in the year. I altered a lot, so that my version would be totally different from all the others.  

Winner of the Sunlight & Shadow Reader's Choice "Best Shanshu Fic" award!

PART 1

2000:

Buffy Summers looked around the graveyard and checked her watch for the thousandth time. Spike was late again, she was still actually having trouble believing that Giles was making her patrol with the big loser, especially after Willow's little foray into magick and it's results. She really didn't care that Spike was supposedly on the side of good (at least temporarily) everytime she looked at him, she thought about Dru - the nutball, which naturally led to thoughts of Angel. And these days when she thought about Angel (which since thanksgiving had been more and more often) the hurt, pain and love was more intense and this time the feelings just wouldn't go away, almost as though she was missing part of her. Buffy was so obsessed with her own thoughts about Angel, that she never heard the demon approach. Since she was surprised and distracted, she just couldn't seem to get her equilibrium back and the demon quickly dispatched her. By the time her body hit the ground she was already dead, her neck snapped into like it had been some sort of twig and that's how Spike found her when he showed up ten minutes later. He knelt down next to Buffy's lifeless body and felt an irrational surge of anger and helplessness. He carefully picked up Buffy's broken body and headed to Giles' place, hoping that he'd know what to do.

When Giles opened the door and saw Spike standing there carrying the dead body of his slayer, he felt his heartbreak in two at his worst nightmare come true. He let Spike inside and called the others, as he watched Spike carefully laid Buffy's body out on the couch. <She looks just like she's sleeping> Giles thought and wished with all his might that, that was true... that she'd just wake up and tell them that it was her idea of a horrible joke. It wasn't more than ten minutes later when the others arrived, all in shock, unable to believe that Buffy was dead. They collectively moved over to her broken body and stared at her lifeless form.

Willow was the first one to snap out of it and she asked Giles, "Did anyone call Joyce and Dawn?"

Giles just shook his head, "I didn't even think of it."

"It's okay G-man, you're not supposed to think of everything at a time like this" Xander told him as he stared at Buffy.

The phone suddenly rang and Willow answered it. "Hello?" she said sadly.

"She's dead isn't she?"

"Cordy?" Willow asked. "How did you know?"

"Angel... he's crying and he keeps muttering 'not her' and 'they promised this wouldn't happen'" Cordy told her. When there wasn't an answer, Cordy continued, "Call us and let us know about the funeral."

"Sure" Willow said hanging up the phone.

"What did the queen of bitca's want?" Xander asked finally turning his head away from his fallen hero.

Willow told him, "She wanted to know if it was true... about Buffy."

"How..." Giles began.

"Angel" Willow simply said with no emotion in her voice.

Xander walked over to his best friend and hugged her.

"It's not fair" Willow cried into Xander's shirt. "How is the world gonna survive without her? How are we?"

They all stood around and thought about what Willow had just said, because if Buffy... the strongest slayer ever couldn't survive, then what hope did anyone have?

THREE DAYS LATER:

Buffy's funeral was arranged by Joyce, she deliberately held it during the day, so that even in death she had separated Buffy and Angel, not even Dawn's pleadings of how Buffy wouldn't have wanted that went unheard. Cordelia and Wesley did attend however and got to say their good-byes to the girl who had not only saved their lives countless times, but also inadvertently influenced their paths in life. After the funeral was over, all of the mourners headed to Joyce's for the wake. Willow and Xander were the last to leave Buffy's grave, it was as though they felt that if they left it then she'd never be coming back, that this whole nightmare would in fact be true. Finally Giles had to come back from Joyce's and physically lead them away from the tangible reminder of their loss.

As soon as darkness fell Angel headed for his beloved's grave. He stood there staring at the marker, still unable to believe that she was gone, even though he knew that it was true because a giant piece of his heart was gone too. He decided that it was time to tell her everything... no she deserved to hear it... he wished she was alive to hear it all. "Buffy... my love. I am so sorry for so many things. For leaving you, for everything Angelus did to you and most of all... for taking our day back." He paused for a moment trying not to completely breakdown; in this last year he'd lost the two most important people in the world to him, Buffy and Doyle. "I miss you so much... Good-bye my love."

Spike watched Angel from his hiding place and realised that compared to all the others, even Joyce and the niblett, Angel was the one who was truly suffering. The 250+ vampire with a soul just lost his soulmate, his reason for being. He could somewhat sympathise with Angel because of his feelings for the ever absent Dru, but at least she was still out there somewhere and not buried six-feet under, never to return. Spike walked away, deciding that he was gonna go to Buffy's wake and for once celebrate the life of a slayer.

EIGHT WEEKS LATER:

Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt arrived back at the manor after Piper's doctor's appointment with smiles on both of their faces.

Phoebe spotted them and said, "Well, well... I guess your not deathly ill."

"No... Where's Prue?" Piper asked.

"Right here" Prue said coming out of the kitchen. "So, what's wrong?" she asked as she sat down next to Phoebe.

Piper smiled again, "Nothing is wrong, I'm perfectly healthy."

"Then why have you been sick?" Phoebe questioned.

"Well... Leo and I are... well, we're pregnant" Piper announced.

Prue and Phoebe practically flew out of their seats and engulfed their sister and Leo in a hug. "This is fantastic" Prue said.

"That's not all the good news," Leo added.

Prue and Phoebe stood there expectantly.

"Leo asked me to marry him... and I said yes!" Piper told them.

"Wow" was all Phoebe could say.

"I agree with that. Congratulations" Prue told them.

Then she and Phoebe dragged poor Piper and Leo into the living room and started to pump them for information.

SEVEN MONTHS LATER:

Prue and Phoebe were pacing the waiting room, desperate to know what was going on. It had been about an hour since Piper and Leo had gone into the delivery room. "What's taking them so long?" Phoebe grumbled ten minutes later.

Prue looked at her and said, "How am I supposed to know?"

They were just about to kidnap the next doctor or nurse that passed when Leo appeared. They ran up to him and Prue demanded, "Well?"

"It's a girl. 6 pounds, 5 ounces" Leo told them happily. He was ecstatic over becoming a father and now he had another little charmed one to watch over, this one even more precious than the others... his little girl.

"Cool" Phoebe said bouncing up and down in excitement.

At the same moment Prue asked, "When can we see them?"

"You can see Piper in a little while, but we can go to the nursery and see my daughter now" Leo told them.

"Lead us to our niece" Phoebe ordered as they followed Leo down the corridor.

About an hour later they went in to see Piper. She was still resting, but opened her eyes when she heard them all come in. "Hi" she said sleepily, "Did you see her? What do you think?"

"She's beautiful Piper" Phoebe told her sister.

"Agreed. Have you decided on a name?" Prue said.

"Yeah" Piper told them, "Emma Victoria."

"Emma was my mother's name" Leo explained when he saw the confusion on Prue and Phoebe's faces. They'd apparently expected them to name her Patricia or Melinda.

"It's a nice name," Prue said.

"It's pretty" Phoebe added, "Plus it's harder to find a rude word that rhymes with Emma to tease her with."

They talked for a while, until Piper fell asleep. Prue and Phoebe headed back to the manor, but Leo headed back to the nursery to take another look at his daughter. As he did this he wondered if he should tell Piper about their daughter's past life and her destiny. Finally he decided against it and headed back to the manor.

PART 2

2020:

Angel flopped down on his bed, exhausted from all the work he'd put into this last case and all he could think about was going to sleep. But in sleep he didn't find peace, he had a dream:

//Angel found himself standing in a field full of wildflowers in the middle of the day and he took a moment to smell them and to wonder at the feeling of the sun on his skin. He was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice calling his name, a voice he hadn't heard in an extremely long time. "Buffy?" he whispered as he looked and was rewarded with her standing nearby.

"Angel" she said walking slowly towards him, so slowly he thought he might go mad from it. "I've got so much I need to say to you and so little time to make you understand them."

"Tell me what?" Angel asked confused.

Buffy took Angel's hand in hers and looked into his eyes, "You need to come find me."

"I can't... can't do... you're dead..."

"It's okay" Buffy comforted, "I'm still here. Call Giles ask about the prophecy of the return and he'll explain it."

Angel couldn't resist it anymore; he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "I'll love you forever" he swore almost in tears.

Buffy looked at him and said, "I'll always love you too... in this life... and the next." Suddenly Buffy morphed from a short, blonde with hazel eyes to a tall, brunette with deep brown eyes. //

Angel awoke with a small yelp, the dream had been so vivid and it had upset him... reminded him of all he'd lost. Angel shook off the feelings it had invoked and tried to fall back to sleep, telling himself that it wasn't real... it was only a dream.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, 19-year-old Emma Wyatt was having a disturbing dream of her own.

//She found herself suddenly no longer staring at a youthful, naked Brendan Fraser and instead was in a large room in front of two strange entities and she wondered what in the heck was going on. She didn't have to wait long for an answer...

"Greetings warrior" the female said, "We have heard much about you from your father."

"Are you daddy's bosses? The PTB?"

"Not quite... we also work for them" the female answered her question.

"It is time you learn of your past and your destiny," the male said.

Before she could ask them what they meant, a bright light permeated the room and she was knocked to her knees. Suddenly her mind was filled with an influx of unfamiliar, yet familiar memories. "What?" she mumbled confused. All she could hear was a distant voice say, "Good luck warrior."//

Emma awoke panicked, but soon calmed herself. When she was sure that the flashes had stopped, she climbed out of her bed and went off in search of her father... she had a strong feeling he could explain this mess to her.

Leo Wyatt was relaxing in the living room after spending a harrowing night dealing with one of his charges, when Emma barged in. "Morning cutie-pie" Leo said getting up and hugging her.

She pulled out of his hug and asked him, "Who am I?"

"You're my little girl..." he answered not sure about what was going on.

"And?" she pushed.

"A slayer and a witch..."

"And?" she pushed again.

Leo suddenly realised that she knew and wondered why no one warned him. "You're also her... Buffy Anne Summers."

"Yeah, well that's what these memories tell me."

"Emma... what memories?" Leo asked.

Emma looked at him and realised that this time her father was as much in the dark about this whole memory thing as she was. "I had a dream... big room, two gold people, blinding light and presto... instant memories of another life."

"The oracles... even death can't shut them up" Leo mumbled. "How much of her memory did they give you?" he asked worried.

"All" Emma answered. "Her birth, her parents divorce, Angel, her seventeenth birthday and the events after and her death. And as an added bonus they gave me some memories of a day that never really happened... these ones are good memories though... real good ones."

"What are they thinking... memories? You're supposed to know your destiny, but Buffy's memories..." Leo was ranting. "I'm gonna go talk to them."

Emma watched her father orb away and wondered why she got caught with another sucky destiny and how she was gonna tell her boyfriend they had to break up because she was destined to spend eternity with a ensouled vampire, better yet that she actually wanted to spend the rest of her life with the vampire.

In LA, Angel woke up and came downstairs to find the hotel empty. Since he needed to speak with Wes about his dream, he couldn't do anything about it, so he picked up his sketchpad and drew the girl from his dream. An hour later he was so caught up with it that he didn't hear his friends arrive. "Hey" Cordy said scaring him.

"Jeez Cor" Angel said picking up the sketchpad he dropped. He stood up and grabbed Wes, "I need to talk to you."

"Certainly" Wes replied wondering why Angel was acting so skittish.

They went into Angel's office and he said, "I had a Buffy dream."

"So?" Wes asked confused.

"I haven't had one in five years... and this one was different."

"How?" Wes questioned.

Angel looked at him, "I could feel her presence... she was there and then... she changed into a totally different girl... but it was still Buffy."

"Are you on something?" Wesley asked cautiously.

"No... And I'm not nuts" Angel replied insulted.

"Angel" Wes started, "Buffy died twenty years ago and it's inconceivable that she has been hanging around for that long so she could visit your dreams."

"I guess. It just felt so real... like those dreams we used to share."

"Angel... I'm your friend and I'm telling you, Buffy is gone and it's time to move on. Buffy is not back!" Wes told him.

PART 3

Leo returned from his bosses and found Emma standing at the living room window staring out at the neighbourhood. "Sweetie... I'm back," Leo said.

Emma turned around and faced her father, then asked "Well... what did they say?"

"You were meant to get all of Buffy's memories and there is apparently a prophecy in the Book of Shadows we are supposed to read" Leo told her.

Leo had barely finished speaking before Emma orbed her way up to the attic. Leo followed quickly and then chastised her. "You know that you're not supposed to use your power to orb unless it's an emergency or they want to see you" Leo reminded her.

"They never want to see me face to face and it is an emergency... sort of" Emma replied standing in front of the Book of Shadows. She went to reach for it and the pages started flicking of their own accord, it opened to the page she wanted. "Thanks Grams" she said as she started to read out loud.

During the night that signals her nine and ten birth

Her memories shall be returned

She will see herself as a new part

Waiting for the fallen Angel to be whole

With the return of old loved ones

And joined with the new

He and she shall fight side by side

For together they are strong, apart they shall fall

"Well..." Leo was shocked into silence. It seemed to be a straight forward prophesy, that gave absolutely no useful information and confused the hell out of him.

"It refers to an upcoming battle that I'll fight with Angel, with help from the family and the Scooby gang" Emma told him, seeing the confusion etched on his face.

"Angel? Scooby gang?" Leo was still confused, "Who are these people?"

"The scooby gang consists of friends of mine who helped me last time I was slayer, plus Giles, Dawn and mo... Joyce" Emma replied.

"And Angel?" Leo pushed.

Emma took a deep breath, she knew this wasn't going to go well... her dad had problems with her dating Andy and he was at least normal. "Angel... he is an ensouled vampire that Buffy... had a relationship with."

"VAMPIRE!" Leo screamed. "They want you to join with some vampire. How do they mean join?"

"Maybe they mean fight side by side" Emma said, "That's the only way anyway... Angel has a clause in his curse, one moment true happiness and poof... then the return of Angelus - the Scourge of Europe."

"True happiness? How do you even know that to be true?" Leo asked.

Emma took another deep breath, "Buffy's seventeenth birthday."

Leo paled; his daughter in a past life not only fell in love with this vampire, but apparently also gave him true happiness. No way was that ever going to happen again, this time his little girl was staying away from that vampire except during the battles... she isn't going to join with anyone until she was at least forty. Besides she is a slayer, they're supposed to slay vampires' right? Leo ignored the niggling little voice that reminded him that she'd been a slayer last time and that hadn't stopped it.

"Daddy, don't worry... he's one of us, a good guy. He has a soul and he wouldn't hurt me or anyone else" Emma replied, trying to settle her father's fears.

Leo decided to let the Angel subject drop for now, they could talk about it later when he was calm. He hugged Emma and asked her, "So how are we going to tell your mom about this? I mean she didn't take you inheriting my powers as well as hers so well and when she found out about the slaying..."

"Yikes! I'd been repressing those memories. She's just gonna have to deal... like we are" Emma said.

"How come you're so wise?" Leo asked.

"I'm a lot older than I look" Emma teased as they left the attic.

That night Angel went to Caritas, talking to the host and listening to a Kalazy demon butcher the song 'I Will Always Love You'. "So what are you planning to sing tonight?" the host suddenly asked him suspiciously.

"Why do you want to know?" Angel countered.

The host looked at him and said, "Because I cannot take you singing one more Mannilow song."

Angel tried not to laugh, he usually sung them to annoy the host... however tonight he just want information and decided to sing something else. "Don't worry... tonight I'm not singing anything by Barry Mannilow" Angel assured him.

"So?" the host pushed. Angel caved in whispered the song title in the hosts ear. The host murmured something that sounded like 'Thank the Gods' and went up to the stage to introduce Angel. "Folks... do I have a treat for you tonight. Angel is going to sing something that didn't come off a Barry Mannilow album." The host waited until the applause died down, "So here he is with 'I Can Still Feel You'... our very own souled vamp, Angel."

Angel took the stage and grabbed the mike:

//It's that feeling that someone

Is standing behind me

And I turn around and there's no one there

And it's the sensation

That someone just whispered

Yeah and I still hear your voice, but you're not really there

Your memory is like a ghost

And my heart is its host//

//I can still feel you just as close as skin

Every now and then

All by myself in a crowded room, or my empty bed

There's a place you touched with your love no one gets close too

I can still feel you I can still feel you

I can still feel you I can still feel you//

When Angel finished he came down from the stage and before he could even ask his question, the host said, "You want to know about Buffy?"

"Yeah."

"She's dead" the host replied, but when he saw Angel's statement he added, "But isn't reincarnation a wonderful thing."

"Then she's really back?" Angel asked hopefully.

"For the last nineteen years... just as a different girl" the host told him.

"She's okay?"

"Yeah and don't worry, you'll see her again" the host told him.

"That's it?"

"What do you want? Her address? Her number? Forget it, I can't give it too you" the host said, "Come back soon."

Angel watched the host walk over to some new customers and left Caritas feeling extremely unsatisfied.

PART 4

When Angel returned to the Hyperion, he found Cordy doubled over in pain from a vision. "Cordy... are you okay? What do you see?"

"It was weird... Buffy, but not Buffy" Cordy told him.

"What do you mean?" Wesley asked his wife as he came back into the room with Cordy's aspirin.

"Cordy took it from Wes and sat down. "I saw Buffy... looking exactly like she did last time I saw her and then all of a sudden she was different... she looked totally different."

Angel pulled a sketch out of a draw, "Did she look like this?"

Cordy looked at the sketch. "She looked exactly like that," she said.

Angel quickly picked up the phone and Wes asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm calling Giles."

Giles was awoken by the telephone and upset about being pulled away from his dream of Jenny, he answered it gruffly. "What?"

"Giles... it's Angel. Cordy just had a vision and it effects us all" Angel said.

Giles' anger faded as concern took over, "What's going to happen?"

"Buffy's back" Angel told him.

Giles sighed, "Angel... she died almost twenty years ago and I think that it's time that you moved on."

"No Giles... I mean that she's been reincarnated."

When Giles heard Angel say that, something in his memory clicked and he gasped. "Oh my... the prophecy."

"The prophecy? What about it?" Angel asked remembering that Buffy had said something about a prophecy in his dream.

"It'll be easier to explain in person. I'll call the gang and we'll come to you" Giles said.

"Sure... bye Giles" Angel said hanging up.

Giles hung up his end and began to wonder what Buffy would be like now. She was most likely a teenager and could be anywhere. What Giles really wanted to know was... did she remember them and if so, did she still want them in her life. Giles sighed and picked up the phone again, this time to summon the scooby gang.

The next day Angel was hiding in his room brooding when the gang arrived. Instead of going down to greet them he stayed put, needing time alone before he had to face them. He knew that everyone with the exceptions of Willow and Dawn blamed in some degree for Buffy's death. In their eyes by leaving her alone in Sunnydale he signed her death certificate, all conveniently forgetting that they'd wanted him to leave... hell, even he felt guilty over that and mad as hell at the oracles for promising Buffy wouldn't die if he turned back that day... the way things worked out, he may as well have stayed Human. Angel sighed and got up and headed slowly downstairs, he could hear them all talking about him. The most vocal of the group was of course Joyce, she was raving about how Buffy would have come to her first if she were truly back. Angel entered the lobby and everyone fell silent, except for Willow and Dawn who hugged him and said hello. He sat down next to Cordy and Wes, and then Giles began his interrogation of Cordy.

"What did you see in your vision?" he asked her.

Cordy just looked at him, "Buffy."

"And?" Joyce pushed.

"She changed from old Buffy into new Buffy" Cordy said. "If you want more info than that ask Angel, he's the one that had the Buffy dream."

All eyes turned to Angel. "She said to call Giles and something about a prophecy and then she morphed."

They all fell into an uncomfortable silence and Cordy could see they were bothering Angel and she did something nice by showing them to their rooms far away from her friend. Angel was grateful to Cordy for saving his sanity and he went into his office to do some work. He couldn't concentrate, all he could do was stare at the wall and wonder where she was and if she ever thought about him.

Emma was sitting on her bed staring out of the window, thinking about Angel. Leo walked in and sat down next to her. "Hi Emmie" he said smiling at her.

At her father's use of her childhood nickname, one that hadn't been used in ten years, she knew something was up, all that remained was to find out how bad it was or was gonna get. "What now?" she asked sarcastically, "Did they decide that I need to be a blonde again or something?"

"Nice sarcasm. Haven't you heard of not shooting the messenger?" Leo asked.

"When it comes to news from them... I not only shoot the messenger, but I stuff him and place him proudly above the mantle" she replied.

"Actually they just told me that the battle is to be fought here in San Francisco" Leo told her, "That means your friends will arrive soon."

Emma hugged her father. "Daddy, don't worry, it'll all work out... it always does somehow" she told him.

"I really hope so, Baby-girl."

On to Part Five