Fade Away Again, Chapter 11
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Gunn
After I helped Anne get the new donations moved, and found my boys, I hauled ass over to the Hyperion. Man, it's messed up being in a place where you used to hang, and then haven't in a while. I recognized everything, but it felt trippy.
Now, Wes and Spike warned us about the Slayers, but I wasn't prepared for a bunch of fine young things. A few of them are too young to think about that way, but man, they are all hot. Willow’s talking with a couple of chicks her age, while the younger ones are training with a woman I guess is a Watcher. Or maybe a senior Slayer, I’m not too clear on how that all plays out.
The girls with Red look me over, and I strut toward them, make sure there’s something to notice. No telling if I’ll ever see another honey; if one of the super girls is willing, I’m not gonna turn them away. Live today like it’s your last, the boss man said…
Willow waves at me. “Gunn! Charles Gunn, this is Merry Cunningham, and Jezebel Neves. Merry’s gonna go with you to the Senator’s office. To back you up, as your backup…”
“Hey.” Mary, who is a sweet little brunette, breaks in on Willow and shakes my hand.
“Mary, nice to meet you.” I nod and smile, trying to work the charm.
“No, not Mary. Merry, like Christmas.” She shrugs. “It’s short for Meredith. So…I hear there are vampires.” She rolls her eyes, like she thinks she got stuck doing the grunt work…Or maybe that’s me, because that’s where I’m at.
“Yeah, I’m kinda the low man on the totem pole…It’s cool, though. Me and the fangs go way back, to before I hooked up with Soulful. We’ll get it done, and be back in plenty of time for the big show.” She grins, looking 'bout as ready as I feel to get there and get back.
“Hello.” The other girl steps past Red, drawing herself up to her full height, which is only about an inch shorter than me. “Not to rush your bonding or anything, but it’s about time for Willow to grab Penny and get going. Merry, why don’t you get Gunn here set up. Get his stuff to his room and everything. I'll take over the last-minute training.”
I blink at her take-charge Slayer-ness. “No need to worry ‘bout me, all I brought was myself, and my weapons.” I push my sleeves out of the way to reveal two wrist sheaths full of stakes, then show them the axe and dagger in my belt. “I’m all good to go.”
“You didn’t bring clothes or anything?” Tall, dark and fine looks at me like she don’t understand going into battle without a change of clothes ready. Maybe she doesn’t. Probably wears makeup out to slay the vamps, from looking at her.
“Left my stuff at Spike’s, didn’t wanna be draggin’ it around all day, might draw the wrong kind of attention. Like I said, don’t stress about me. I’ve got a couple things in my truck, and I probably left a shirt or somethin’ behind from when I was living here. It’ll be a few days before I start to stank up the place.”
I came here to check on them and see the old place again, just in case I don’t get the chance later. I’m not gonna think about the slick suits and expensive toys I left at Wolfram & Hart, or the few things I bothered to take when I stormed out yesterday, now dumped in Spike’s living room. I’m not gonna think about my boys from the old gang, getting ready to patrol downtown tonight for stray demons. I’m just gonna get through this, and tomorrow I’ll think about everything else.
Willow nods, and changes the subject. “Well, anyway, there are rooms up that way, all cleaned up with fresh sheets and towels…And we got a doctor to help. His name’s Ron, he’ll hang out here for a couple of days, in case we need him.” She waves towards the second floor hallway behind her. She smiles a little hesitantly at me, then walks over to separate the older Slayer from the trainees, leaving them rudderless until Jezebel wanders off to take over. Red and her buddy head towards Wes’ old office; guess that’s where they have the magic stuff set up.
I’m left standing with Merry. “I’m in charge of weapons. Let me go set up everyone’s stuff, then we can roll. It’ll take a while to get there and get into position.” I nod, and follow after her. After all, I got nothin’ better to do for a while, and I should probably get to know my partner...
“So, you from around here?” Okay, that was so lame I’m ashamed of myself, but nothing works better for getting to know someone than getting-to-know-you questions.
Girlfriend just smiles, like she has no idea how uncool I just was. “I grew up in the hills, lived here until I was 9. Then I lived in England 'till I was out of college, and then I did some traveling during my Watcher training; India, Cambodia, Israel & Palestine, Ethiopia, Hawaii. I’ve been back living here for a little over a year. I gave up Watcher-ing, and decided to go to med school. Second semester, suddenly my little sister and I are Slayers.” Life history in under 100 words. I think I like her. She leads me into the kitchen, of all places, where every weapon in the Hyperion has found a home.
I whistle, looking over the piles. “Check out the heavy artillery.” I watch as she moves around the room. Since she’s not gonna ask, I’ll just tell her about myself. “I grew up in East LA, met Angel while I was part of a vamp hunting gang back in my hood. Been helping out ever since.”
“Never left LA, huh?”
“Not for long.” I shrug. “Never felt like leaving. Plenty of vamps to take out right here in the city.”
She nods, and grabs a messenger bag from a stack. She loads it with stakes and holy water, slings it over her shoulder cross-wise, and pulls a scabbard over the other way. Then she starts sorting the rest of the weapons into piles, throwing what looks like random things into the different bags, making separate piles around each.
She must have a plan, though, because when a little blonde girl pops in, she points to an orange bag. “Your stuff’s in that one. I put in plenty of daggers, and there’s a short-sword on the island set aside for you.” She turns from where she’s fastening a strap of throwing knifes to a pink bag with safety pins. “Apple, Gunn. Gunn, Apple.” Blondie nods and waves at me, and grabs a short sword from the island where Merry waved her. I have no clue how she figured out which one. The girls hug and wish each other luck, before Apple grabs the orange bag and heads back out to the lobby.
In a few minutes the mess of weapons is straight, and Merry points to the pile she hasn’t touched yet. “You want anything else, grab it.” She walks over to the pile, and grabs another sword and a throwing axe of her own, before she steps back and lets me look. I grab a few bottles of holy water for my pockets. Not much more I can carry.
Back in the lobby, Willow is loaded down with another messenger bag, and her helper rushes over to grab Merry and hug her, before throwing me a “Good luck!” and heading for her own weapons pile.
The other blonde, older than Apple, comes up to Merry next. “Good luck, sis.” Then she turns to me. “Hey, I’m Joy, Merry’s sister. She gets dead, I’m gonna kick your ass.”
Great, another take-charge type. Still, this one I can work with. “Then I guess she’s gonna have ta make it back.” I smile and try to look reassuring, because I get her. If I coulda sent some bad-ass out with my sister everywhere she went, I know I would have. She nods and shakes my hand, and turns back to the girls she was training with; Apple, the other two young ones, and Jezebel, who looks about a million miles away.
Then it’s just us and Red. “Good luck. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She nods at me, then turns to Merry. “Goddess go with you.”
Merry smiles, and grabs Willow, smashing their lips together. Wow, so I guess my chances of hooking up are kinda shot. She pulls away, and looks the witch in the eye. “When this is all over, we’re gonna have to talk. I just wanted to do that, in case I don’t get another chance.” Then Merry turns to me. “Ready?”
I follow her out of the Hyperion with a smile on my face. Looks like she’s got a lot to live for. No reason I can’t borrow some of her reasons, if I have a hard time finding my own.
********
Willow
I've done everything I possibly can to help. I've cast protection spells on everyone, I've gotten Buffy's advice on our plans, gotten the Slayers ready, and heard about the prophecy regarding this battle. I even figured out how to protect everyone's cell phone signals from interference, so we could use them. It's been a busy day, and there's still lots more to do.
Penny fidgets as she drives; she taps the steering wheel, strokes the gearshift, changes radio stations over and over; it's exhausting just to watch. I sit quietly, and just watch the scenery go by. "Why are you worried?" Penny asks me, out of the clear blue silence. Not that silence has a color; but when they say, out of the clear blue, what is it exactly that's clear and blue…Okay, babbling. Not good. I make myself snap out of it and focus on Penny, who is trying to watch me and the road at the same time.
"Who says I'm worried? I mean, I'm not the one who’s fidgeting, you…Fidgeter, you. You look worried, to me." I try to look stern, to convince her that I'm not worried at all, no sir, not me. I don't think she's believing me.
"I say you're worried. I can see it in your aura. You're very troubled, and you shouldn't be. Because we're going to win. And we're all gonna live, and I'll be back in Arizona by Monday." She's smiling as she says all this, without a trace of irony or sarcasm or anything. It's weird.
I shake my head and try to think of how to respond. Because, I think she deserves some type of response, I'm just not sure what to say or do. I mean, I know about auras; that's not the weird part. How do I explain this sense of responsibility I have for all of them? How can I tell her I got her and her friends into this mess? And, how do I tell her about my friends, and how strange and wrong it feels to try to save the world without them, and how the longer I'm here in LA, the more I feel the tug of magicks I know better than to mess with, but have such a hard time resisting.
"How do you know?" I finally ask. "I mean, how can you be absolutely sure that everything will be fine; that we'll live, and that Wolfram & Hart won't win; or that Spike and Angel won't die, or that…"
"Willow…" Penny twists her engagement ring around on her finger with one hand, steering the car with the other. "Some things, you just know. It doesn't matter if you have a direct line to the Goddess, or how many friends or enemies you have; things will come out the way they're meant to. You know how life and magicks work. What will be, will be."
I nod, because she's right, I know all this. For some reason, it's just not helping right now. I watch her fidget with her ring, and analyze the set of her shoulders, determined and focused. "You're really not scared, or worried, or anything?" I'm sure I sound whiny, but I really just need to know. I've faced the end of the world at least 8 times, even tried to cause it once. I don't think Penny's ever done this before. So, how the heck is she staying so calm, while I'm an ever-lovin' basket case?
"Willow…I know you haven't known me long, but let me give you a brief intro. Penny 101 goes like this. I always get my way. Always. The only thing on this entire planet I would really be lost without is my fiancé, Tom. I've wanted to marry Tommy since the moment I laid eyes on him. We've mated, we're joined to one another for the rest of our lives. We're getting married on July 3rd. If you think the world's gonna end before July, you're insane, because there is no way I would possibly allow that. And, remember point 1; I always get my way. Ergo, the world is not ending this weekend, and I'm heading back to Arizona on Monday. Got that?"
I smile, I can't help it. I've gotta say, I'm not normally a big fan of crazy people. In this case, though…Penny sounds so obviously insane, that she may just have the right idea. And I have to admire that determination. I mean, even if it sounds way wacky on the surface, there is logic to what Penny's saying. Of course, it's an illogical, power-of-positive-thinking type of non-logic, but it makes sense. After that speech, I wouldn't want to be the fate that crossed this Slayer.
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Wesley
Illyria's words echo in my mind as I head towards the meeting point. I’m not what you want. Truer words were never said. There is still a part of me that never wants to see Illyria again; that wants to pay her…It back for killing Fred. Then there is the part of me which feels sympathy for the God trapped in a human body against its will. A part that says perhaps I should have taken the offer to spend some time with Fred’s memory today, while I have the chance.
Six Slayers, two master vampires, a God in a mortal body, a witch, and two humans; against the Circle of the Black Thorn, and the might of the Senior Partners of Wolfram & Hart. It seems an understatement to say that we’re fighting tremendous odds, and that we have only the slightest chance of making it out of this battle alive. Then again I’ve seen a single Slayer go up against worse odds and win; I’ve seen both Spike and Angel fight demons more powerful than themselves, and survive if not win. Willow, if Spike’s word is anything to go by, is more powerful than I ever could have imagined when I first met her. Perhaps, then, our combined resources will turn the battle in our favour.
I still do not feel entirely confident of my own survival. Not that self-preservation is my top priority. Ensuring that certain people do not live past tonight, is. Beginning with Vail.
I was telling the truth when I said Illyria’s words on vengeance were inspirational. Even if my path is uncertain, and the line between truth and illusion increasingly blurry; vengeance can be had. Not only for myself, but for Fred and Cordelia, Angel and Connor; even for Lilah, although her pains were much of her own making. If love and hope cannot guide me, let vengeance.
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Connor
The driving to LA helps calm me down, some. When it comes down to it, even with all these weird recovered memories, I don’t know Angel that well. I don’t know what kind of mess I’m riding into, only that it must be big, because he came to see me.
Now that I’m not so furious, I could turn the car around, I guess. Go back to campus, show up in class tomorrow with some story about my mother being hysterical, and my help wasn’t needed at home.
But then, I can’t. I’ve chosen my side, and I need to be there to fight. Some weird sense inside me says this is the only way. If Angel tries to brush me off again, it’s his funeral. This is my day.
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Angel
I planned my schedule around meeting with the group at Spike’s again before I go after Hamilton, so there’s a block of time I don’t know how to fill. Eve’s apartment is empty, and smells heavily of magicks. Willow’s work, I’m sure. I can’t take a walk anywhere because the sun’s still out. The car is vamp-friendly, so I end up driving. After a few circles, I swing around towards the Hyperion. Not for any particular reason; just because I have nothing else going on.
The alley is just as I remember it, so I drive around the back. In the small parking lot is a minivan, a VW bus, and Gunn’s Wolfram & Hart-issue Escalade. I pull across the street, into another alley, and watch the back door for a while. Nothing goes in or out, and eventually I give up and keep driving.
This is someone else’s show; I can’t get involved with the Slayers just now. So, I drive, because there’s nothing more I can do.
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Jezzie
We’re going to have to leave soon, but I just can’t make myself go. Penny and Merry are long gone. Apple is curled up on the lobby sofa, dead to the world, her weapons in arm’s reach; Laurie’s sleeping on the floor near the wall, her head pillowed on her own weapons bag. Lise is sitting on the steps, staring off into space. I don’t even want to know what’s going on in her head right now.
I’ve been trying to give Joyce some last minute instructions and training, but I know I’m not focusing, and neither is she. Not a God-damn thing I do at the eleventh hour will make up for the fact that the rest of us have been studying and training for years, while she hasn’t. She’s realized that, I think. After several hours training with the younger girls, she can see how very unprepared she is for tonight.
My eyes trace over the girls scattered around the lobby, my brain refusing to focus on whatever Joycie’s saying, when Elise and Laurie both snap to awareness. Laurie makes a straight line for Apple, while Elise comes to me.
“You need to go. Now.” I’ve never heard Lise give an order; it’s disconcerting. I can’t deny that it’s time, but that doesn’t f-ing make me feel better about it.
“Just let me…”
“No, Mom, we’ve gotta go now.” Laurie and Apple look like avenging angels, loaded down with weapons. Baby girl is glaring fiercely, but Apple’s Mona Lisa smile is a helluva lot more troubling.
Joyce sighs, and I turn to face her. “They’re right, it’s time. You’re not gonna make it to the club by seven if you don’t leave now. Elise and I will train a little more, while you’re gone.”
Lise smiles and motions me towards to door, and I give up. If there were any other Watchers around, I’d be a laughing stock. Nine years of training, six years in the field, and I’m being ordered around by a bunch of little girls. Frickin-a.
On the drive, Apple and Laurie huddle in the seat behind me, leaving the ‘shotgun’ seat for my pile-o-weapons. I can hear them whispering, but don’t catch the words, and any time I turn around they’re looking out the windows, or blinking back at me innocently. I hold in a sigh, and do my best to ignore them. Every one in a while they pull this twin crap on me, and I just have to ride it out. I wonder about it sometimes; how they got so close, so fast, when they have so little in common. Then I think about Mary Alice and I, and shrug it off. Sometimes, friendship just happens.
The drive feels like it takes forever, but it’s also over too soon, and as we climb out of the van and secure our weapons, I wish it had taken longer. I don’t know what to say to them.
When we’re all ready, Apple and Laurie both look at me, then turn and look at one another. Then they turn back to me, with a really frigging creepy coordination. “Cover our backs.” They chorus, and by the time I process what they just said, Apple has kicked the door down and they’re both inside. Jesus H Christ; when did I lose control of this situation?
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Penny
“Right.” I nod at Willow. “No reason to draw this out. The faster we get in there and do some damage, the faster we get back.” I turn to look at Wes, who has a glimmer in his eyes I don’t like. “What do you think, Wesley? We go in, guns blazing?”
“I believe I should go in on my own; then you can cover me from outside, and…”
“And what, Wes?” Willow cuts in. “You have some tea, and wait for him to kill you? This…Jerk rearranged the fabric of reality. It’ll take all three of us, but we could demolish him in, like, two seconds. I say we go for it.”
He doesn’t look any more convinced, and I remember how very stubborn he can be. “You remember Dad’s ‘no Watcher is an island’ speech, Wesel?”
Wes’ eyes lock on mine. They’re so full of anger and sorrow, I want to shake him, but eventually he starts to look logical again. “Right. We go in together, then.”
We all straighten, and march towards the demon’s mansion, with Wes in the lead. Willow pushes the guards out of our path with a wave of her hand, and I draw a sword to fight them off in case they come back, which they do just as we reach the door. One draws a gun, which Wes pulls toward himself, while Willow pins him to the ground, and I slice the other. I finish the pinned guard with a quick stab through the heart, and when I turn, the others are already inside.
I walk past another bloody guard, towards an open doorway. As I enter, Wes shoots a ball of flames at a scrawny looking red demon, sending him crashing into the wall. He recovers more quickly than I would have imagined, and without thinking I run to protect Wes. The blast of power hits both of us, and we go down in a tangle of arms and legs. And, ouch.
For a few seconds I can’t see anything, but when I can move enough to roll away, I see Willow hit with another blast of energy. It doesn’t knock her over, though. It’s like she absorbs it. One second her aura is full of clear, bright colors; her nervousness from earlier abandoned in the fight. The next, it’s black and red. She shimmers like a mirage in the desert; and her hair and eyes bleed to black, then to dishwater grey, and then to a glowing white.
Wes stirs beside me, and our eyes meet. As one we stagger to our feet, and move to either side of Willow, taking her hands. The demon, Vail, is frozen in place, either by Willow’s power or by shock. As I lend my power to the goddess living through Willow, and feel Wes do the same, we suddenly know what we have to do.
“We know your magick, now.” Our voices join together in condemnation of the demon. “Your powers are filled with darkness; there is no place for you in the new order. By the power of the Goddess, and these representatives of the Tribe of Sineya, we hereby revoke your powers. We will all evil done by you, by your dark powers, in your name and by your will, to be undone. All the hurt you have inflicted upon the innocent will be rectified.”
We raise our hands, Willow’s still held by Wes and I, and a wind whips up around us. The wind slices into Vail, separating him from his powers, until he exists as no more than dust on the wind filling the room. The wind reaches through the house and out over the estate, through the city, the country, across the ocean, finally covering the whole world.
We cannot resurrect those who have been murdered, for they are gone beyond this plane. We cannot rewrite history, so that wrongs were not committed, for time is not ours to change. We can return possessions, dignity, and safety to those who lost by doing no wrong. We can close portals to dimensions which threaten mankind, and our people. We can restore memories and hope and free will to those stripped of theirs.
When the wind dies out, we all slump to the ground, exhausted. Willow’s hair brightens to red, and her aura returns to its natural shades. The Goddess, whoever She was, is gone, and I for one am exhausted. Unfortunately, there’s too much to do yet, to lay here and relax. After a second, I lift my head, and realize the house is gone. We’re laying on the grass, beneath a night sky filled with more stars than I would have expected in Los Angeles.
“Is it just me, or are the stars brighter than they were?” Wes asks, and I turn my head to look at him. He looks pale and drawn, and there’s a bleeding gash on his forehead, but he also looks about a million times happier than he did when I first saw him tonight.
Suddenly, clouds start to roll in. If I don’t miss my guess, they’re moving far faster than they should be. Well, that can’t be good. “Come on, Wes; we’d better get back to the Hyperion.”
As we’re struggling to our feet and waking up an extremely groggy Willow, a blue haired woman in body armor appears on the lawn. “You are unhurt.” Her voice is monotone, and her head tilts at an unnatural angle. “I killed all of mine…And I was…”
“Concerned?” Wes smiles faintly, staggering under Willow’s weight against his shoulder.
“I think so.” She looks faintly troubled by the idea, but barely a second passes before she turns her focus to Willow. “The vessel is weak. She must rest before she can hold that much power again. I will take her to the green one for assistance.”
I have no idea who or what this woman is; my senses are so out of whack, I can’t tell if she’s a demon or a very strange Slayer or what. “My car is down the hill, I can drive her back.”
Her gaze whips towards me. “I can get her there faster, taking the roofs. We will be there when you arrive.”
Before I can protest further, she’s scooped Willow out of Wes’ arms, and taken off so fast I didn’t even see it. I turn to Wesley, who is still smiling faintly. “I gotta say, Wesel, you have the weirdest friends.” Wes just chuckles, and slips his arm over my shoulder. We support one another down the hill, getting stronger as we go, until we reach my car.
Wes looks over to where his car was parked. It’s gone. I stare at the empty space for a second, then look back at Wes, who is now glowering. “Where in the bloody hell did my car go!” He growls, pulling away from me to look at the empty space. As he moves, the first raindrops fall.
“Wes, we don’t have time. Get in the car.” I let both of us in, and as soon as he closes the door I pull away. Wes is still grumbling, and I can’t help it; I start to laugh.
“What in the world is so funny, you little twit. Try to save the world, get your car bloody well stolen. Of all the nerve…”
I’m laughing so hard I can barely see the road now, and it takes a minute for me to calm down so that I can answer. “I’m just glad it was your car; mine’s a rental.”
********
Angel
“What was that?” Connor looks up at me, as the building begins to tremble.
“Wolfram & Hart. Looks like they’re taking the gloves off.” The floor jumps under our feet, and more of the ceiling starts to cave in.
“Remind me to kick your ass for not warning me about this.” Connor shouts to be heard over the building twisting and breaking. “Come on, we’ve gotta get out of here.”
I follow as he tears off down the hall and runs into a stairwell. “You need to go home. Get as far away from this as possible…”
“Like hell.” He yells without even turning around; just keeps on running. “I know you think the world revolves around you, but this is as much my fight as it is yours.” He hits a landing at the 8th floor and turns to meet my eyes as I catch up to him. “Wolfram & Hart erased my memories, they’ve kept me from doing what I was supposed to do. And, they almost destroyed my father.” He claps me on the back of the shoulder and takes off again, yelling over his shoulder. “No way do I sit back and let you get your ass kicked again. You need me, and I need to be here.”
The building shakes violently again, and I’m covered in a shower of concrete dust as I force my feet to move. We can argue once we get out of the building.
********
Next chapter: Everyone in an alley.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
A/N: As in the previous chapter, there will be multiple narrators. Also, some borrowed dialogue from "Not Fade Away". Please enjoy, and if you do, or even if you don't, review me!!!! It helps me to build the story, to overcome writer's block, and to know I am appreciated.