New Perspectives
by Shannon Hearn
I don't own Angel or the rest of the Fang Gang, they belong to Joss.
I have been watching the last few episodes of Angel and have noticed that old Leery (Illyria) has had her powers stripped in the Episode Time Bomb. What would that do to a person like Leery in realizing that she has to deal with she is in a small shell. Well she is about to learn that size and strength mean nothing, it is the will that all matters. Well let's begin.
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Part 1,
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Illyria, Demon-Goddess, warrior of Ancient times, the leader of armies lay on the floor of the dojo. She didn't know what felt worse. Being trapped in a shell that left her feeling claustrophobic, or being stripped of her powers. How she despised the one half-breed named Angel for sentencing her to this fate. To be Mortal being in a small body that she had taken possession of.
Plankton that Envies the Sea that it lives in. Now she was with the Plankton. She was with the "The Slim that eats itself." Illyria had just lay on the floor for the past three days lost in her thoughts and the thoughts of her shell Winifred Burkle despising anyone who got near her or even wanting to touch her. That was when she noticed that there was water coming from her face. She took a gloved hand and followed the path of the water on her face up and noticed that it was coming from the crease of her eye next to her nose; that and her nose was started to become clogged with a slim like material from inside the head she was in.
Something in her said that she was coming apart. No Boom explosion but she was coming apart. Was this what her host body had felt when she, Fred died. Like everything had been taken from her. That was when she heard something coming down the hall. Every combat skill she had kicked in but her body was still weak. She was going to be vanquished by some entity that was living in the house of the Wolf, Ram and Hart. They would pay dearly.
As the door opened she was looking up to see the face of her attacker through the window, but saw nothing, that was when a foot came through the swinging door that she had tossed the white haired one through so many times. Using all the strength she had to summon one of her blades in her hand, she waited to see her would be executioner come through the door.
"Um, Hello is anyone in here?" A voice said as a young child's head came through the door. Illyria just lay there seeing the creature before her. The appearance was human but the sent was almost like the one named Connor, but instead of Vampire she smelled of Demon, but of a type she had never smelled before and glowed of an Aura of power. That was when the fear set in. The memories of the shell remembered that there was a being the served the Wolf, Ram and Heart that had the form of a child but was of pure evil, and would take the life of whomever had come across it with glee
"Come face me servant of the Wolf, Ram and Heart." Illyria said bracing her self to be destroyed. "I hope that you take your time enjoying this battle because it will be your last as you take my life, I will take yours." Illyria said bracing for the first blow of powers.
"Um, Have you seen my Mommy?" The young one said as she came over to Illyria's side and scrunched down on her knees.
"You are not here to destroy me?" Illyria said, as her face showed both disappointment and relief as she brought her blade closer to her body as if it might shield her from her would be attacker's sneak attack.
"Um, no..." The child said as she started to study Illyria's features. "... Destroying is bad. You have nice hair and why are you on the floor?" The double questions hit Illyria like a warrior demon from the Quartoth realm. She wasn't expecting an attack like this, one in her mind. Were the Wolf, Ram and Heart plotting to attack her with madness. They had used her own powers against her by unraveling time and putting it back in order out of sync. The only way out she had from that prison was to take the being known as Angel along with her on one of her shifts and toss him to a point to break the time loop so she could live.
"I have lost my powers little one, if your masters haven't told you. They took them at this spot. I want them back, if only this shell wasn't so weak!" Illyria said to the child with anger.
"So you are on the floor, why haven't you gotten up?" The young one said lying down as well. "I lost something once, but when I looked for it, I found it in the strangest place. It wasn't where I thought I lost it, but it was on me." The girl said as she reached over and moved a lock of Illyria's hair out of the way so that she could see better.
"I'm so small now, I had all the power that even gods feared me. I was a God to a God and I was to be feared, armies and the strongest of forces tremble at my presence. Now I am a small mortal piece of slime that is at the mercy of others around me." Illyria said as the child looked into her eyes.
"Some times being small is a good thing, you can learn a lot about people. Even the secrets they want to hide from you." The girl said with the last part being a whisper.
"Being small is not what I fear it is the change that must go with it." Illyria said, "Change is compromise, and I Illyria will not compromise to nothing and to no one." The flame in Illyria's heart kicked in with a power that had gotten her to move to the point where she was crouched like a panther ready to strike.
"Sometimes Compromise is a way to learn something, to find a balance of what you need and what you do not need. But if you keep some core ideals of who you really are then you will grow. If you don't know what you need and what you don't then until you do you will continue to make compromises that will cost you everything." The child said as Illyria thought about the child's statement.
"I have already lost everything young one, I have nothing left but my life in this weak shell I am in and my will." Illyria said,
"Well what do you think of your shell? Maybe you might want to take it back to where you found it and learn where it is from and why it is, why it is? Sometimes taking a step back to see the little things will give you focus and put things in perspective and make you think in ways you never thought of." The child said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a paper napkin and handed it to Illyria. "Just blow your nose and wipe your tears, things will reveal themselves in time. Maybe this is a test for you to learn who you really are to be in this world." The child said as she moved over and gave Illyria her hand. "... Or Probably meant to be in the end." Illyria just looked at the child and felt that this type of knowledge was beyond this young one's years.
"What are you? How do come across such wisdom that even an Old One does not possess?" Illyria said as she knelt to the child's eye level.
"Well my mom said that my father was part Braken Demon and she had knowledge of the various demon cultures and their history and stories from around the world. So some of it rubbed off on me." The child said as Illyria touched the child's face.
"You bear none of the markings of the Break-Lin." Illyria said. "The Break-Lin have skin green as the forest canopy, and eyes Red as the mortal's blood of this time, But you do not bear their spikes on their face." Illyria said as she was about to turn her gaze away then there was a sneeze from the child and her true face was revealed. Green Skin that was the color of the forest canopy, eyes red as human blood and the facial spikes that signified her as being of the Break-Lin. This child was the descendant of her first Qual'ta Zal. Illyria reached out with such speed that her embrace smooched the girl.
"I thought that I was alone, with all the Old Ones except for myself in this world gone or turned to dust." Illyria said as the girl coughed some.
"You're squishing me." The girl said as Illyria just held on to the only releasing her grip enough to let the child breath better.
"What are you doing to my daughter?" A voice Rang out from the doorway from where the girl had entered that got the ancient goddess's attention. Illyria turned to see the figure standing in the door. A Human woman with long curly brown hair in semiformal business clothing that consisted of a dark short skirt, a white blouse and dark shoes.
"Nothing, I thought that the Braken were extinct in this time, and my people and theirs were close." Illyria said letting go of the girl and letting the child go to her mother.
"Well there are very few of their kind left. Most of their surviving clans happen to be mixes to one level or another of human and demon" the girl's mother said to Illyria.
"So why don't you go back to your own people?" The mother said to Illyria as the girl started walking over to her mom.
"I am the last, my people have either perished in a great cataclysm that wiped our people out or have been entombed never to rise again." Illyria said fearing of being alone once again. "The only reason that I am here is that I was resurrected by a man that pretended to be my Qual'ta Zal, my people's temple has been destroyed and our followers have been turned to dust. I have been searching for any leads to the world that was." Illyria was started to break down in tears as she said this. "Between the trauma of awakening in this time, and the recent loss of my powers. Your child has been the only lead that I have had to my previous life other that of my Shell."
"Illyria..." Two voices said at the same time, one feminine and the other masculine.
"Wesley." Illyria said as she stood up and moved over to her human ally in his world.
"Illyria Francine Doyle could you come over here." The woman said to the girl as Illyria looked at the child who had the same name she did.
"Your name is Illyria?" The Demon-goddess said as the young girl turned towards her.
"Yes, but my friends call me Lil." The child said as her mother took her by the hand. Illyria moved over to kneel down to the child's eye level.
"I have very little respect for individuals, but you are one I see truly as an equal. So much knowledge possessed in the shell of one so small. I can learn so much from you." The elder Illyria said.
"You're new to this realm?" The mother said to Illyria as the Demon-goddess's cobalt blue eyes studied the woman with intensity.
"Yes I have been in this realm of existence for several of the time measurements called weeks." Illyria said as the woman studied her as well.
"Illyria was resurrected and brought back when a deranged follower of hers decided to bring her back at this pre destined time, but several things went wrong during the process and Illyria's body started to break down as her powers started to become more and more unstable. Me and Angel were forced to hit her with a particle cannon to reduce her strength of her powers so that she could live, or she would have exploded from the amount of power she possessed." Wesley said.
"Um, so you know Illyria here." The girl's mother said to Wesley.
"Yes, Wesley Windom Pryce, head of Wolfram and Hart paranormal magic's and sorcery research division." Wesley said to the Woman.
"Harriet Doyle, I was interviewing for the job here for Interspecies and intercultural understanding." Harriet said.
"Ah, yes, Angel said that he was going to bring in some help in dealing with some of the more unique cases of human and demon societal differences." Wesley said to Harriet. "I need to speak with you in private about some of your projects that you will be working on." With that Harriet left with Wesley through the double doors of the Dojo along with the young child named Illyria.
"Illyria... will I ever see you again?" The demon-goddess warrior said. "I would like to speak with you again."
"I don't know... but if my mom gets the job we might see each other some more." The young Illyria said. "But I hope so... Um Mom can I dye my hair like her's, I really like the color of her hair?" The child said.
"I'll let you know later, but for right now, no." Harriet said as she took her daughter out the doors. The elder Illyria stood staring at the door for several moments before turning to look at the spot where she had lay for the previous three days. Illyria knelt down and touched the spot with her hand, and then she summoned the blue lightning she used to summon and voice Winifred's memories as she took the child's advice and started her own inner journey. In the observation room of the Dojo Wesley was talking with Harriet Doyle about the elder Illyria and how she came to be.
TBC
Next,
Part 2, Wes and Harriet talk about Illyria's state of mind.
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