As I said, this is my first story so reviews, good or bad, are completely welcome. This first chapter is kind of short, but they may usually be longer. Thank you and I hope you enjoy!
Angel stared at Drogyn. He was willing to do it, and he didn't give a damn about the consequences. Fred was an amazing girl, a good person, and she did not deserve to die. He was willing to do anything to save her, even if it meant the lives of thousands, as it apparently would.
"You know the risks?" Drogyn asked Angel and Spike. Spike was a little ways away, still staring down at the gargantuan hole that led all the way to the other end of the world. Of course I know the bloody risks, Spike thought to himself. Stupid, no good, truth telling ponce.
Angel was ready to do it; save Fred, even if it meant the near death to thousands. According to Drogyn, to save Fred the Old One Illyria would have to enter every person between L.A. and the Deeper Well and she would kill them all. There would be no survivors. Suddenly everyone would just be dead. Usually that wouldn't be a risk worth taking. Angel knew he was supposed to be a champion, someone who saved lives, not destroyed them. The world would be in shock over the sudden death of thousands. But Fred would live. And she'd hate it. She'd feel all the guilt in the world because of those deaths. She'd work it up to be her fault, her fault that Angel decided to save her and murder thousands, and she'd hate him and herself for that. Knowing Fred as he did, she wouldn't want to live after all that guilt. But Angel had lost, lost too many, and he couldn't live with losing someone he could save.
He'd lost Doyle, in the beginning. Then, later on, Cordelia, the woman he had loved. And he lost Connor—not by death, but by a magical spell that made him not know who his true father was. He had lost more (Buffy, Darla, etc.) but some of them hadn't died and the others weren't on his mind right now.
He wouldn't lose Fred. He wouldn't. He knew it was wrong to be this selfish. But he was working at Wolfram & Hart, the true definition of evil, so he deserved to be selfish. That made this okay, right? Right?
"Let's do it," Angel said quietly, so quietly that he thought Drogyn might not have heard him. Drogyn had.
Wesley held Fred close to him, as close as he could. She was freezing—literally so cold that just the mere touch of her sent millions of shocks through his body. Wes hardly noticed, though. Holding Fred, being there for her in this moment was the most important moment of his life, and he would not allow a coldness to get in the way of that. He loved her, and he wished he could save her, but the end was near. He could tell, and he hated that. So, what else could he do to help her, other than hold her? And hold her Wes would.
"Wesely," Fred whimpered, tears cold as ice running down her face. Her teeth were chattering, making it hard to speak. She didn't know what exactly was happening to her, but she was afraid, and she also knew that the end had to be near. She could feel it insider her, whatever "it" was. It was eating away at her, though, and she felt herself changing in ways she could not explain. Before it was over, she had to ask Wesley, the man she loved, something. "Could you have loved me?" the words came out terribly, shakily.
"Oh, Fred." Wes whispered. Of course he loved her. How could he not? And how would he find a way to express this?
Suddenly, before Wes had a chance to express his true feelings, Fred sat up straight and stiff as a board. Her body got a sudden burst of heat that was so quick it nearly burned Wes's skin. He backed off just a bit and Fred screeched and screamed so loud Wes almost expected all glass to break.
A bright light filled Fred's body and moved towards the top of her body. Out of her mouth shot a brilliant ball of blue light. It was so bright Wes had to shield his eyes. The bright light immediately shot out of the room, out the window. Fred sat there, slumped in Wes's arms. Her eyes were open wide, her mouth open in shock.
"I'm alive. I'm alive," she told herself again and again. But what price did Angel have to pay to save her from the evil inside her?
To be continued...