Cordelia and Gunn walked through the front doors of the hotel, talking quietly. The Seer had been subdued since Xander had been taken, her normal outgoing attitude nowhere to be seen. Gunn had taken to escorting her to different malls and various sales around LA. Everyone got really worried when she didn't actually buy anything or try to get anyone else to buy it for her.

"Welcome, Cordelia, Mr. Gunn, we've been waiting for you to arrive. Please, join the others, we have much to discuss."

Cordelia sat next to Wesley on the sofa and Gunn perched on the arm next to her. "Who are you? What what do we have to talk about?" Cordelia asked incuriously.

Lucifer frowned slightly at the young woman, he'd had no idea that she was this distraught. "As your friends can tell you," He said pointing towards Angel and Spike, "I am Lucifer, The King of Hell, the Prince of Darkness and so on and so forth. I learned of your plan to assault Hell and retrieve Xander from my realm. I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that."

Cordelia's apathy turned into white hot rage. There wasn't any warning before she burst from her seat and attacked Lucifer. He grabbed her gently and led her back to her seat.

He paced restlessly around the room for a moment, "You've put me in an uncomfortable position here. I'm not allowed to directly interfere with humans. But since Angel and Spike here are vampires, it grants me a little leeway. I shouldn't really be telling you any of this, but because of your concern over Xander, I'm willing to make a few concessions."

"First of all, let me assure you that Xander is alive and well. He has not been harmed in any way, nor will he be."

Angel shifted to his game face and growled, "You forget, I've been to Hell, I know what goes on there."

Lucifer stalked over and poked his finger in Angel's chest. "You came to Hell and were punished, that is true. But I didn't punish you."

"Then who did?" Angel snarled.

Lucifer sighed, "There are times I regret having ever interfered in human evolution. Ah well. I didn't punish you, you punished yourself." Lucifer could see the questions in their eyes and raised one hand. "Let me finish before you start babbling at me. Hell is what you make of it, literally. If you die and are sent to my domain, your own beliefs will cause you much more pain than I could ever hope to. You believed that you deserved to be punished for your crimes, Angel, and so you were, by your own mind. Oh, I admit I do take a certain interest in some of my arrivals, but they are special cases. Hitler is one of my all time favorites, I don't think I'll ever tire of torturing that moron. And I have a special place ready and waiting for Sadam, he and I will be having many long talks."

"But...I'm sorry, forgive me for my interruption," Wesley said diffidently. "but aren't people who commit evil working for you?"

Lucifer shook his head, "Humans. No they don't work for me. I punish those that break God's laws, humans are more than capable of committing acts of evil without any help from me."

"But what about demons and stuff?" Gunn asked. "Demons are from Hell and they hurt people all the time."

"While it is true that some demons do come from my realm, not all do. But the important thing is that they are all God's creatures, every last one of them. Even vampires."

"I don't understand." Gunn said.

"I know you don't, and I'm not sure I can explain it to you. Let me just say that I've found fear to be the best deterrent. If humans believe that demons and Hell are real, then they will avoid doing anything that might send them there. I have more than enough to deal with as it is, the more that can be saved, the better."

Gunn looked doubtful, but Wesley's face lit up. "Of course, I remember now. It was an old text written by a monk in the early tenth century. He wrote that Lucifer, the Angel that had been cast out of Heaven to rule over Hell, had been tasked with leading humanity to the Light. At the time I thought the manuscript was nothing more than the ravings of a lunatic. But now, it all makes sense." Wesley started pacing around the room, muttering under his breath while he worked things through.

"You say vampires are part of God's plan, can you explain that?"

Cordelia grabbed Wesley and pulled him back down onto the couch. "Later, Wesley. I want to know what happened to Xander. So sit there and be quiet."

Lucifer smiled, "I see who actually runs things around here. Very well. As to Xander's situation. If I had left him on Earth, he would have died, slowly and painfully, tomorrow afternoon when the Slayer burns down a building where a very large nest of Braka demons are hiding. She would have done this knowing that Xander had been taken into that building, but she decided that the loss of his life was secondary to the well being of the rest. What she didn't realize was that Braka demons are harmless to humans and totally non-violent. Xander was destined to find one of the demons that had been wounded and, being Xander, would try to help. It would have cost him his life."

"Why is the whelp so important to you then? He's nothing special, I like him and all, but still." Spike said.

"That is where you're wrong. Xander is very special. Some time before he was born, his father promised him to me if I would do him a little favor. I've been watching Xander since the day he came into the world. He is performing a very difficult service for me, one that I believe no one else would be able to perform. I had hoped to wait until he came of age before I offered him a position with me, but the prohibition against direct intervention prevented me from saving him directly. Luckily for me, and for him, his so called friends were incredibly easy to manipulate. Their weak character worked well for me, but they shall still pay dearly for that flaw in the fullness of time."

"What is Xander doing? Can we see him?" Cordelia asked.

"I believe I can make an exception in this case. I must confess, I'm rather eager to see what he is up to myself. I had to leave just as he was getting started. Watch the flames and concentrate."

Cordelia gasped when she saw Xander appear in the flames, he was surrounded by what appeared to be elves and human sized fairies with butterfly wings. "What are they?" She asked in a whisper as she moved closer to the flames.

"They're demons, they will be aiding Xander in his task."

"What is his task?" Wesley asked as he moved to sit next to Cordelia on the floor.

"Look closer."

Gunn and the vampires joined the others on the floor and stared deeply into the flames. Angel gasped when he realized that the small lumps on the floor actually were. "They're children."

"Yes, they are." Lucifer said sadly. "None of them should be in my realm, but they had reached the age of knowledge before they died, hence they are bound by God's law."

"What's the whelp going to do with them?" Spike wondered out loud.

"He's going to help them. Watch."

Everyone watched in stunned amazement as the change began.

***

Xander held both hands out at waist level, palm down. Lucifer had explained how this worked, but he really wasn't sure what would happen. Xander closed his eyes and pictured the gloomy room in his mind and then slowly changed the picture in his head. He opened his eyes slowly and interposed what his mind saw over what his eyes were telling him.

The color started at his feet and rapidly moved outward. Perfect greens, brilliant blues and every other color in the rainbow. Trees, flowers, streams and a small lake appeared out of nowhere and the children sat up and began to take notice.

Small animals, dogs, cats and rabbits bounded out of the shrubbery and began playing in the grass. His demon helpers looked at their new surroundings with awe. They had never seen anything like this before.

Xander dropped his hands and walked over to the closest child. He sat down in front of her and smiled. "Hi. I'm Xander. Want to give me a hand decorating this place?"

She smiled slowly and took his hand.

"Close your eyes and imagine something that you've always wanted to see." Xander said.

She scrunched up her face and a picture formed in Xander's mind. He laughed and said, "I think we can do that. Look."

She opened her eyes in time to see a unicorn gallop up over a hill that hadn't been there the second before. Xander gave her a little nudge. "Go on. Go talk to him."

She scrambled to her feet and ran to the unicorn's side. The graceful animal bowed his head and nuzzled her cheek, making her giggle out loud. Xander grinned and said, "Okay, who's next?"

He was immediately bowled over by children babbling about dragons and ice cream and Disney World and Shamu, and, and, and. Xander just laughed and got busy.

***

Lucifer closed the window reluctantly and everyone groaned. "I'm sorry, but that's more than I actually should have allowed you to see. I must admit I'm rather impressed, I knew the boy had an active imagination, but I never guessed that he would involve the children. And that is why I choose him for the job."

Cordelia smiled, "I never thought I'd be saying this, but...thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for showing us that he's okay."

Lucifer bowed, "You are very welcome."

"Bloody Hell," Spike growled, "I want to go." Spike growled at the looks he was getting. "What? It looks like a bloody lot of fun if you ask me."

Angel gently cuffed his Childe on the head, "You're never going to grow up, are you Spike?"

"Why should I? Wouldn't want to end up being a broody bastard like you. Besides, it's only a matter of time before Bugs and Elmer show up. Not to mention that Martian dude. The whelp loves cartoons."

"Oh, and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Xander always loved them." Cordelia said.

Lucifer sighed and stepped back into the flames, "Hell is never going to be the same. Honestly. Wile E. Coyote? Daffy was much more entertaining."

As soon as the flames had faded from sight, Wesley got on the phone. "Who ya callin', Wes?" Gunn asked.

"Giles. Lucifer saved Xander, it's up to us to save those Braka demons, they don't deserve to be burned alive."

Angel nodded, "I'll make some calls myself and set up a safe place for them here."

***

Xander made sure the last of the children were asleep before he sent his helpers home for the night. The demons probably wouldn't admit it, but they'd had just as much fun as the kids. Xander watched as the children slowly faded from view, going to another room in this realm to sleep and dream happy dreams until it was their turn to play again.

He closed the door behind him and slowly made his way to the dining room where the others were waiting. Everyone congratulated him on a very successful first day and marveled at some of the things they'd seen through the window. It seemed like everyone had taken the time to look in on him once or twice during the day.

Xander smiled and nodded in all the right places, but he was so tired that he had trouble concentrating. Transforming and maintaining the illusions got easier over time, but it was still exhausting. He started nodding off half way through the meal.

He never felt the strong arms lifting him from his chair and carrying him up to his room, or the gentle hands that undressed him and tucked him into his bed. Or even the kiss on his forehead and the quiet words. "Sleep well, Xander. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lucifer closed the door quietly behind him and made his way down to his throne room. He had a lot of thinking to do about Xander and his future here, with him. If there was a future for them.

***

Xander was up early, hours before his usual time. He tapped on the door leading into the control room and smiled when Urta opened the door. "Hi, Urta, I was wondering if you could give me a hand with something."

Urta bowed slightly, "Of course, Xander. Lucifer has informed me to give you any aid that you may require."

Xander grinned, "Good, good. Now, here's what I want to do."

***

Lucifer was surprised when Xander ambled into the dining room flipping through reams of paper that looked like they came from the control room. "Xander? What are you doing?"

"Um?" Xander finally looked up, "Oh, sorry. I, uh, had Urta help me look up some things this morning. Did you know, that almost a third of the children here have either one or both parents here? And three quarters of those parents fall under the control of one of the other Lieutenants?"

Lucifer sat his fork down and gave Xander his undivided attention. "I knew there were some, but I've never really looked at the numbers before. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking, maybe we could set aside a place in one of the realms and set it up so we could put the parents and children together. That would ease up some of the work on me and the others and maybe make it easier for all of them to get where they need to go."

Lucifer looked at his Lieutenants and they gaped at him in return. Brody thumped his head down on the table, "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Xander hung his head and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I just thought maybe..."

Lucifer was quick to correct him, "Not you, Xander. I believe Brody was speaking about me. I should have thought of that a very long time ago."

"Come on now, Luc. Anyone of us should have thought of it. Don't be taking all the blame." Brody smiled at Xander then said to Lucifer, "How did we ever make it here without the boy?"

"I have no idea." Lucifer said quietly.

***

Xander helped locate the children while the other Lieutenants went through their own sections to locate the parents. Lucifer set up a free zone and allowed Xander and Father Maguire to set the illusions. They came up with a neighborhood of small houses surrounded by trees and parks. There were even stores, arcades and restaurants so their time here could be as normal as possible. The parents were brought in first and stood looking around in confusion. When the children were brought in that confusion turned to smiles of joy and cries of relief. Xander's demons and the priest's helpers took each reunited family to their house and explained to them that this place was theirs to do with as they wished. They were also told that they would be watched and if help were needed, they just had to ask.

Father Maguire shook Xander's hand, "You've done a good thing here Xander, a very good thing."

Xander shrugged, "Maybe, but we still have a lot of work to do."

***

Days started to bleed one into another. Xander got up early, spent the day with the children, tried to stay awake long enough to eat dinner and then collapsed until the next day. Lucifer was getting worried, the boy was losing weight and the dark circles around his eyes told their own tale, but Xander refused to take a day of rest. Brody and the others tried talking to him, Father Maguire even brought up the fact that God himself took a day of rest.

Xander still refused. "Yeah? So? He rested after he was done, right? Well, I'm not done yet."

Brody finally asked Lucifer to intercede directly and he did try, but he didn't get any farther than they had. Something had to give and Lucifer was afraid it would be Xander. It was time to call out the big guns.

***

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