Silent enim leges inter arma;
Laws are silent in time of war.

From Count Galeazzo Ciano, (1903-1944),
fascist politician and son in law of Mussolini.

Angel opened his eyes to find himself alone in their bed. Alert, he sat up and cast now wide awake eyes and senses around the bedroom, only to find it bereft as well. Silently he reached down and grabbed his black silk robe from where it had fallen the night before, and put it around himself before walking out of the room into the rest of the apartment.

His search did not last long. She was standing before the window in the living room, which had been lowered during the building renovations, watching the city of angels slowly acquire the new light of another day. A quiet sigh of relief passed through his lips, then he stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What's wrong?" He asked her quietly, having been aware from the moment he found her, descrying from just her stance that something was up with his wife. His wife. It still felt a marvellous novelty to think those two words, though they had been married over a month.

"It's started," she just as quietly replied. Her body had accepted his embrace, but her mind was too thoughtful to return it, by placing her hands upon his clasped ones. Instead they hung listlessly by her side.

"What has?" He asked her, concerned.

"I'm not sure," she answered honestly. "But there is something in the air. I can feel it." She spoke with the calm assurance of the slayer, as a creature who was always attuned to danger, just as intuitively as nature.

"What do you think it is?" He asked her, as his own body, though now human still possessed the danger sense that was of his own species, began to awake to the knowledge that something was in the air.

"I don't want to even hazard a guess. But all my dreams lately have acquired an apocalyptic slant."

He made no reply to that. Instead his mind recalled the time she had appeared at his door in Sunnydale, concerned because she had dreamt of his death. As it turned out, reality had not been that far from the truth; for though his body had not turned to ashes, he had died, and in his place, Angelus had risen. He knew all too well how true her dreams could become. When he did speak, it was to set aloud a thought that had come to mind from the moment she had answered his first question. "Do you think they are ready?"

"I think they are," Buffy replied. "And I think we need to be too."

Angel remained silent, his mind hearing and accepting her words with a strange state of calmness.

As though he had expected that reply, knew it was coming.

After all, it had been foreshadowing in the wings for a long time now.

>>>>>>>>

Far, far away, another one stood by a window, watching the light fall down upon the city of angels, their own mind and body equally restless and attuned to what was in the air. Her sense however was not borne out of something acquired through nature, but through her mind, which had been forewarned some days ago.

Lilah Morgan had once believed herself to be in control of her life. An independent woman, she had worked hard to put herself through college and law school; she had passed the bar on both sides of the country; she had fought with some of the best lawyers of her generation to gain a job at Wolfram and Hart, a law firm at the time, she believed, to be one the most prestigious in the known world.

And in the first few weeks of her job, that belief had not gone away. It was only as she rose through the ranks, that she discovered the secrets behind the legal front, and the underworld that lived in the Los Angeles and everywhere else. Horror had been her first emotion when she learnt her law firm represented demons and vampires. But then her nerve, built up by years of fighting through her education and law school, had conquered her better senses, and made her succeed to becoming Head of Special Projects.

But for all her front, there were times when Lilah realised that she still had not come to accept what she represented. Being lawyer was nothing like what she imagined it to be. Wolfram and Hart taught her that it was not about giving justice to everyone of their clients, that it was about finding the loopholes and amendments in law to let them do whatever they wanted to do. It was about turning a blind eye to their appearance, tastes and desires, even providing for them if necessary. About survival of the fittest, of screwing over her fellow colleagues, and living through the judgements of the mind readers and physics which made up the security department. True she had learned to do all of these things, and do them with style, while still appearing to be every bit the successful lawyer she was, but it was no longer with a song in her heart.

Now that heart was behind carefully built walls which she resurrected in order to evade the security department, and to remain professional for every case and client she was chosen to take. Now she focused on constant success, for to fail the firm was to risk certain death.

When Lindsey had left, there had been no question of following him, at the time, Lilah had seen no sense in trailing after someone who was surely a sinking ship. But then she had not known what he knew. Now she did.

How long Angel had been a personal project of Wolfram and Hart, Lilah did not know. Certainly when she joined the firm she never heard his name, but it was more than the year he had spent in Los Angeles. It was only when she became head of Special Projects that she learnt how closely he was connected to the plans of the Senior Partners. When she was told of the prophecy of the final battle and that when it would be waged, he would play a key role. That which side he would be on, was the grey area, and that it was her job and the firm's job to keep on making it as grey as possible, until his path to their side was set. While he was Angel, that grey area was clear, but as Angelus... the possibilities were endless.

As long as Angel had been a personal project, there had been the impossible scenario. The prophecy on a piece of faded ancient parchment, kept in the deepest recesses of their company building. The one future event which they did not plan for, and could not come up with a plan for.

The one where Angel was no longer a use to them. The one where he became human. Above all others, this was the one the firm had to ensure never came about. One they had to do everything within their power to prevent. The one which no one had seen coming, until it was far too late.

Lilah could not deny that they had tried. From the moment they had learned of its beginnings, her department had worked from dawns until and through dusk, trying to come up with a battle plan to turn the scenario to their advantage. But the word impossible had not been given to it by accident. The prophecy contained a central flaw which combated everything they could throw at it. Angel becoming human. Humanity meant no Angelus, and Angelus was the one thing they could not do without.

She was scared to admit to her superiors that she had failed to come up with a battle plan, but she had done so, the day before, and survived. And they had managed to surprise her once again.

Which was why she was standing inside her office, watching light come to the city of angels through the large expanse of glass. Despite their being everything against them, Wolfram and Hart had decided to do the only thing they could do. Bring the final battle forward, choose the time and day it was to be, and fire the first shot. It seemed crazy, almost suicidal. But it was the only path left open to them.

There had been a time when Lilah had known whether or not they could succeed against the person who was now their nemesis. But since the impossible scenario came into the play, her vision into the future was no longer clear, but dark and murky.

Of course, there was the old adage that forewarned is forearmed, but Lilah knew that this fight would not be decided upon who held the biggest battalion, but on those who held the best shots.

>>>>>>>>

Though foreboding was in both of their minds, Buffy and Angel were determined to carry on as usual throughout what constituted as a normal day at Angel Investigations. Since the enlargement of the firm, there had been the increase of cases, due to Doyle's visions as well as the website Willow had set up. Most of them consisted of mild demonic or vampiric involvement, but there were some occasionally which required all of them to stop what they were doing and come together to kill the bad guys and save the world.

Currently, there was nothing of the latter on their books. Instead only the former, which they usually dealt to pairs out of their eight members- not counting Gunn's group, who were enlisted only in the latter.

But for all their determination to try and forget, that shadowing of things in the wind stayed with Buffy and Angel all day, no matter what manner of cases lay before them. Distraction came to be something they searched in vain for all day, along with keeping the sense of foreboding to themselves. Within minutes of the rest of the firm's arrival, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Doyle, Jasmine and Wesley had learned that something was bothering the slayer and their boss, and just as quickly realised the something was serious, else there would be no reason for trying to conceal it.

At lunchtime, they confronted them, and learned what they knew. Something had started. Something was in the air, and it did not look good. Immediately their minds leapt to the obvious conclusion; Wolfram and Hart. The law firm had been their enemy from day one, it was natural to assume that whatever was coming would come from them. What that something was however, they did not know, and could not hazard at. Which was the element that was causing them concern.

After the meal, they put away the minor cases, and retired to the book room, where they examined once more the prophecy which had brought them all together, and the ancient tomes in their possession, trying to figure out if they held something which could hint at what was coming.

Hours passed and pages turned, but to no avail. Nothing in their possession held any clue to what was shadowing in the wind, or an explanation for the dreams the slayer had been having.

When they had examined all they had from cover to cover, Buffy went to the phone and called up Giles to see if he had anything, or if whatever was coming lay in Sunnydale and the hellmouth. But apart from his concern and support, the watcher could find nothing to help them.

Night fell, and they gathered in Buffy and Angel's apartment, to discuss a possible break-in to the offices of Wolfram and Hart, to see if they held any key to what they were sensing was in the air. Various scenarios were aired and debated, with all outcomes and eventualities considered. In the end however, all they could do in safety, was to quietly sit out the wait. Though they hated walking into this blind, there was little else they could do, without risk to themselves.

They would soon learn however, that the wait, would not be long.

>>>>>>>>

As day came to Wolfram and Hart, the building filled up with lawyers, interns, clients, mind readers and physics.

Lilah Morgan turned away from her window, ands joined the rest of the senior lawyers, department heads and partners not senior, in the main board room, to debate final preparations. In truth, there would not be much debate, only decisions to make and orders to take. Timing was vital. None of them could afford to get anything wrong, if they hoped to stand a chance of succeeding with their plans.

She remained silent for most of the meeting, only adding a voice when asked. She had a lot of thinking to do herself. For as she stood watching the city being bathed in light, Lilah had come to realise a decision must be made in her mind. For after this battle, whatever the outcome, there would be no going back. No second chance. Like the department she had been put in charge of, it was a matter of sides which concerned her. Which side should she be on, for this final battle? In the beginning, there had been no question where her loyalty lay. But as the years passed that choice had become as much of a grey area as that of Angel's. And now it looked almost black.

The meeting took up most of the day, and when evening came the partners called in the security department, to run the final check of loyalties. It was imperative that nothing came out of this meeting, that nothing leaked to their enemies, no matter how insignificant.

Lilah stood up with the rest of her colleagues in the line-up, her mind composed and her front to the fore. It was important that she appeared as normal to those around her, and that her mind was clear of doubt, so she could pass the security check. Both mind reader and physic passed her by without hesitation.

The meeting was declared to be at an end, and the first order of deployment was given. The Senior Partners would handle the matter of sending their adversaries to the battlefield, leaving them with just the matter of turning up. She nodded with the rest of them, silently vowing her appearance.

All the while knowing she would not be there.

>>>>>>>>

Yes, they did not have to wait long. Confirmation came in the sign of a vision for Doyle. A powerful, almost deadly vision, which left him with the need to faint, and some need for liquor and aspirin. When he had gathered strength to remember and tell the others, the need for fortification came to all of them.

After a moment of preparation, they called around their supporters and gathered their weapons. Then they headed out to the battlefield.

Their enemy was already there when they arrived. They had the advantage of choice of ground and topography, leaving them to make the best of what was left.

Slayer and boss set the layout, and the eight discuss the strategy. When they felt ready, they turned to face their nemesis.

Wolfram and Hart stared back, ready to fight.

The sky closed in, and the moon rose high, casting its gaze over them. In the heavens, the Oracles and the Powers That Be watched anxiously, waiting and hoping for the balance to be restored with little bloodshed or death.

After this, all would change.

After this, there would be a brave new world.

The only wonder was, what kind of world would it be.

The End.

Author's Note: Here it is; the last of this series. A few final things. The reference to God not being on the side of the largest battalions but on the side of the best shots, is drawn from Voltaire.