Title: Devastating Past
Author: Valerie
E-mail: funbreath@msn.com
Disclaimer: they don't belong to me
Summary: AU Angel is new at Sunnydale High. He meets Buffy and the gang. They think he's just a regular kid. Not likely.
Timeline: during season 2 of BTVS...sorta. Let's just say that Buffy and the gang are in their Junior year in Sunnydale High.
Spoilers: as far as alternate universe goes...almost nothing. References on demons from BTVS and Angel from time to time, but that's about it
Rating: R
Distribution: You can take it but ask me first please.
Feedback: That's a big big big yes!!!!! It's my first fic, so please?
*********
9.
The next day, at school, the Scooby gang was reunited for a daily Scooby meeting. "What is this?" Giles asked as he watched what Buffy just gave him.
"It looks like a stake." Oz stated.
"Yeah. Where did you find it?" Willow questioned her best friend.
"Here's the funny part. We were patrolling with Xander last night when we heard a fight. So we ran toward it. Only we were stopped by a few vamps..." Buffy began.
"A few is an understatement. There was a LOT of them." Xander pointed out.
"Right. So the thing is, we were fighting them when a demon came crashing just next to us."
"What? He jumped?" Cordelia asked, frowning.
"No. He was thrown. He crashed next to us." Buffy rectified. "We realized we had staked only like...half the vamps we had seen, 'cause the others were already dead."
"Lots of dust." Xander commented.
"We looked around but we were alone. And we found this" She pointed at the stake "Deep in the heart of the demon."
"So there's definitely a new player in town, huh?" Jenny assumed.
"This is no ordinary stake Giles. Look at it. There are inscriptions carved on it, it has a metallic handle and everything." Buffy continued.
"Yes...it looks like names. A lot of names. They cover all of the stake except of the pointy part." Willow said as she was looking at the stake.
"And there's an other thing written at the top right before all the names. It says 'You are our protector, we love you'. Pretty cool gift huh?" Buffy joked.
"We don't know any group of people at school who are called by those names. So I say the guy's a stranger." Xander said and everyone nodded.
"Yes. Hum...Buffy, this is getting serious. From now on, you will look for that person. He hangs in the cemeteries by night, you should meet him sooner or later." Giles ordered softly.
"Got it."
"Hey, is Kendra still alive?" Cordelia asked suddenly.
"Er...I believe so. Why?" Giles answered.
"It could be an other slayer." The brunette clarified. Everyone looked at Buffy with a strange look.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't die again!" She defended herself.
"I'll ask Kendra's watcher if anything happened. Now go to class." The watcher advised everyone.
*****
"Wow, what's wrong?" Kristin asked Angel when she saw him at school that morning.
"I lost my stake." He replied, obvious pain in his eyes.
"The one we all got you for your birthday?"
"Yeah. I killed a demon with it last night, then I saw vampires running away so I went to kill them, and by the time I came back to get the stake, the demon had morphed into some king of weird slime thing, and the stake was gone." He whined like a little boy. The thing was that he loved that stake. When he had been locked up in that institution for three months last summer, his gangs from New York and Los Angeles had joined to carve a special stake for his birthday, which was in the middle of July. It was especially made for his hand, with a metallic handle and everyone's signature carved on the length.
"I'm sorry, I know it meant the world for you." Kristin smiled softly. And it DID mean the world to him. By the time his birthday arrived, he had just learnt that he would move to Sunnydale, and was feeling completely depressed and lonely. That gift stood for all of his friends, his family, who would always be there for him and loved him.
"I called Spike yesterday." Angel informed his sister as he made his way to his locker.
"Oh yeah? How's it going on the East coast?"
"They're fine. They had troubles with Jackson's new gang for a few months, but Spike eventually kicked them out of Manhattan. Now the business is slow, which is what he complains about. Faith says hi by the way."
"Oh cool." Kristin liked Faith. She had been one of her best friends in New York, she could relate to her because she ran away from her alcoholic mother in Boston and came to New York without anything. She was nice. A little wild, but hey, that's what Spike loved about her, anyway. "What about Gunn? He's doing alright taking your place in LA?"
"He manages. A few days ago he almost begged me to come back one time and take care of some business, but I'm sure he did it fine. I don't wanna have to go back every time there's something that doesn't work fine, Gunn will never be accepted as the leader otherwise. I trust him, that's why I passed him the responsibility of everything. Anyway, Penn came back yesterday from his trip, everything's fine."
Kristin decided to change the subject. "I saw Buffy this morning."
"Ok."
"She was wondering why you weren't with me." She informed him with a grin.
"She was?" He couldn't believe it. He had played what had happened the day before over and over again in his mind, he didn't get over the fact that she had almost kissed him.
"When will you ask her out bro?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I could do it...I mean if her mother hadn't shown up we would have kissed. But I can't take her to the restaurant 'cause I'm completely broke and I'm saving for my apartment anyway, and I WON'T accept money from you."
"Why don't you just take her to the Bronze or something?"
"It wouldn't be right, I don't dance and she would want to." He disagreed.
"You used to dance. Angel you're a great dancer why don't you do like old times?"
"Because it's over." Angel snapped angrily at her, hurt that she could even ask. "It's different now. I can't enjoy myself like this again. I used to do it all the time, and Steven was ALWAYS with me. It was a best-friend kind of thing. I can't do it without my best friend. I don't wanna do it now that I'm alone." Kristin couldn't find anything to reply, so he walked past her toward his English class, feeling even more depressed than before. He knew it was stupid to feel so bad about losing his stake, but it was almost the only thing that connected him with his friends. Ok, Kristin had thousands of pictures, because her dream is being a photographer so she takes pictures of anything that moves, but pictures were another deal. On half the pictures, Steven was beside him, he so didn't need to be reminded of that time.
*****
"Angel?" Buffy repeated a third time. This time he finally looked up, startled. The girl that haunted his dreams lately was sitting on the chair right in front of his, and was smiling at him sweetly.
"Oh, sorry. Hi." He told her, almost in a whisper.
"You ok? 'Cause you're not usually mister 10 minutes early." She teased.
"Er...yeah. I had a bad night."
"So I see."
"What?" He asked, surprised.
"You've got an other black eye." She remarked, tracing the outlines of his eye with her pointing finger. He was clearly surprised that she noticed it.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"See that I got a black eye when it's almost gone." He clarified, obvious to the fact that her finger was still on his face.
"Habit." She answered simply, making him even more curious. "So how did you get it?"
"Er...accident. With my bike. I-I lost control. Ran into a...tree." He lied lamely. *What was I supposed to say? A demon punched me?*
"Does it hurt?" She placed her palm on his cheek and caressed softly his brow with her thumb.
"Not anymore." He whispered, staring intently at her with a smile.
She grinned. *God I love it when he's flirting with me!* As she removed her hand, he quickly took it in his, intertwining fingers. "You look tired." She remarked.
"I kinda stayed up all night. Couldn't sleep." He answered truthfully.
"Why?"
"Nightmares."
"And what about?"
"You?" He grinned raising an eyebrow.
"Hey!" She complained, hitting him softly on the arm. "I only cause dreams. I am not nightmare material! I resent that!"
*She's so cute.* "Well, maybe it was a dream and I couldn't get you out of my mind all night." He flirted.
"Maybe?" She flirted back, licking her suddenly dry lips. Just as he was about to reply, Mr. Peterson entered the class, interrupting their conversation.
*****
Later that morning, in the middle of chemistry class, Principal Snyder entered the lab. He exchanged a few words with the teacher, and looked directly at Angel, who had been talking with Cordelia about basketball, and had been surprised to see he was enjoying talking with the Brunette. Well, as long as they were talking about his favorite sport, 'cause she was scary when it came to shopping.
"Mr. Connelly. I'd like to have a word with you." Snyder announced coldly.
"Great, my first meeting with the principal. I missed those." He murmured as he stood up.
"Don't worry, he seems intimidating at first, but he's just a tiny dwarf, he won't do anything to you." Cordelia whispered to her lab partner.
"It's ok Cordy, I'm used to stick around in the Principal's office. It gets fun after the fiftieth time." He whispered back with a half smile, before he followed Snyder out of the classroom.
When they reached the office, Angel plopped down on the chair and sighed heavily.
"What did I do?" He asked innocently. Actually, it was different from the countless times he had been in a Principal's office before, now he really didn't know what he had done.
"Nothing. YET." Snyder answered as he sat on his chair behind his desk. "I received a call from the social services a few days ago. They wanted to talk about you."
"How come?"
"Probably because of your little trip in the hospital last summer." Snyder smirked.
*Fucking bastard.* "So...what did they want?"
"They insisted that you participated in an activity outside of school. Sport, clubs, whatever that could help you focus on anything besides spreading havoc around school and slicing your wrists." Snyder informed him with a smirk at the end.
*I swear I'll kill him before the end of the year* Angel was particularly annoyed by his superior look. The bastard obviously loved screwing his students' lives. As the dark-haired boy remained silent, the Principal explained HIS point of view. "I don't really care that you respect the wishes of the social services, BUT, I'll make a deal with you."
Angel grinned. "Trying to corrupt me Mr. Snyder?"
"As I was saying" the short man ignored his remark. "I don't want to mess with a governmental institution because of this, so I'm asking you to follow orders for once."
"What's up? You're ashamed to say you need me, sir?" Angel chuckled under his breath as Snyder shot icy glares towards him.
"6 of our basketball players have been attacked last Sunday night while they were in the streets, all of them ended up in the hospital, and they won't be out before at least three months. Also, the coach is out of town for a few weeks. There is a very important game for Sunnydale in a little more than a month. We need players, at least one more so that we can have a full team."
"So you thought about me. How touching." Angel replied sarcastically.
"You better accept my offer Mr. Connelly." Snyder stated coldly.
"Or what? You'll report it to the goddamn social services?"
Snyder remained silent for a moment, going through his papers. "I read your file. I know you are as good at basketball as you are at causing trouble. I spoke with the principal of your last school, and after his long whining about your unspeakable behavior, he relented to say you were an amazingly talented basketball player. Before I knew it he was bragging about all the games you helped winning thanks to your incredible capacity to score a 3 pointers from the very end of the field at the last second."
"Jeez, you're making me blush sir." Angel rolled his eyes. Only a moron like his former principal was able to hate him with such intensity and passion as a student and admire him so much when he was holding a basketball. Suddenly, the bell rang, announcing the end of that period and also the lunch break.
"Angel? What do you think of my offer?"
"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
"No you don't."
"Then I accept. I wouldn't want to disappoint a polite man with a good heart like yourself, would I?"
"Follow me." Snyder commended, his glare more and more intense as they left the office.
Angel followed Snyder reluctantly around the crowded corridors of the school, to an area with couches and chairs not far from the cafeteria.
"They are always at the same place. Always in groups, packed in so-called gangs. This is pitiful." Snyder groaned under his breath as he made his way towards a group of people. Angel didn't recognize anyone except Cordelia.
"Chase, Martin, Lowell and West." Snyder called for their attention. The four of them stopped their chat and turned toward their principal.
"Yes sir?" Percy West spoke.
"In case you don't know who this young man is, this is Angel Connelly. He has been transferred from Los Angeles" As Snyder was briefly introducing Angel, the annoyed demon hunter was calmly walking away hands in his pockets, the older man oblivious that the student had left. Cordy, Hogan, Brad and Percy had noticed the boy leaving and had to bite their lips to keep from laughing. Eventually, Snyder looked over at where Angel had been standing and saw he was gone. Much to the four remaining students' surprise, Snyder didn't say anything. He merely shook his head before talking again. "When you see that boy, try to talk to him. He's joining the team. He's an official Sunnydale High basketball player for now on. He shall participate in every practices and meetings and games. Got it?"
"Got it." The four answered in unison, as Snyder was leaving.
"How the hell does Snyder expect us to win the game if the first loser he sees join the team?" Brad, one of the best players, asked Cordy, Hogan the captain of the team, and Percy.
"Wow! Angel is my friend, buddy!" Cordelia snapped at him. "I might not have known him for a long time, but I know enough to guess that he's a pretty good player. He's been playing for years at school."
"I've got nothing against the guy, but we have no more replacements, so he better be good. You talk to him, get him on the field this afternoon after school." Percy told Cordelia. He wanted to believe the cheerleader, but he couldn't help the idea that a guy chosen by Snyder wouldn't be their best shot at winning the state championships.
*********
Author: Valerie
E-mail: funbreath@msn.com
Disclaimer: they don't belong to me
Summary: AU Angel is new at Sunnydale High. He meets Buffy and the gang. They think he's just a regular kid. Not likely.
Timeline: during season 2 of BTVS...sorta. Let's just say that Buffy and the gang are in their Junior year in Sunnydale High.
Spoilers: as far as alternate universe goes...almost nothing. References on demons from BTVS and Angel from time to time, but that's about it
Rating: R
Distribution: You can take it but ask me first please.
Feedback: That's a big big big yes!!!!! It's my first fic, so please?
*********
9.
The next day, at school, the Scooby gang was reunited for a daily Scooby meeting. "What is this?" Giles asked as he watched what Buffy just gave him.
"It looks like a stake." Oz stated.
"Yeah. Where did you find it?" Willow questioned her best friend.
"Here's the funny part. We were patrolling with Xander last night when we heard a fight. So we ran toward it. Only we were stopped by a few vamps..." Buffy began.
"A few is an understatement. There was a LOT of them." Xander pointed out.
"Right. So the thing is, we were fighting them when a demon came crashing just next to us."
"What? He jumped?" Cordelia asked, frowning.
"No. He was thrown. He crashed next to us." Buffy rectified. "We realized we had staked only like...half the vamps we had seen, 'cause the others were already dead."
"Lots of dust." Xander commented.
"We looked around but we were alone. And we found this" She pointed at the stake "Deep in the heart of the demon."
"So there's definitely a new player in town, huh?" Jenny assumed.
"This is no ordinary stake Giles. Look at it. There are inscriptions carved on it, it has a metallic handle and everything." Buffy continued.
"Yes...it looks like names. A lot of names. They cover all of the stake except of the pointy part." Willow said as she was looking at the stake.
"And there's an other thing written at the top right before all the names. It says 'You are our protector, we love you'. Pretty cool gift huh?" Buffy joked.
"We don't know any group of people at school who are called by those names. So I say the guy's a stranger." Xander said and everyone nodded.
"Yes. Hum...Buffy, this is getting serious. From now on, you will look for that person. He hangs in the cemeteries by night, you should meet him sooner or later." Giles ordered softly.
"Got it."
"Hey, is Kendra still alive?" Cordelia asked suddenly.
"Er...I believe so. Why?" Giles answered.
"It could be an other slayer." The brunette clarified. Everyone looked at Buffy with a strange look.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't die again!" She defended herself.
"I'll ask Kendra's watcher if anything happened. Now go to class." The watcher advised everyone.
*****
"Wow, what's wrong?" Kristin asked Angel when she saw him at school that morning.
"I lost my stake." He replied, obvious pain in his eyes.
"The one we all got you for your birthday?"
"Yeah. I killed a demon with it last night, then I saw vampires running away so I went to kill them, and by the time I came back to get the stake, the demon had morphed into some king of weird slime thing, and the stake was gone." He whined like a little boy. The thing was that he loved that stake. When he had been locked up in that institution for three months last summer, his gangs from New York and Los Angeles had joined to carve a special stake for his birthday, which was in the middle of July. It was especially made for his hand, with a metallic handle and everyone's signature carved on the length.
"I'm sorry, I know it meant the world for you." Kristin smiled softly. And it DID mean the world to him. By the time his birthday arrived, he had just learnt that he would move to Sunnydale, and was feeling completely depressed and lonely. That gift stood for all of his friends, his family, who would always be there for him and loved him.
"I called Spike yesterday." Angel informed his sister as he made his way to his locker.
"Oh yeah? How's it going on the East coast?"
"They're fine. They had troubles with Jackson's new gang for a few months, but Spike eventually kicked them out of Manhattan. Now the business is slow, which is what he complains about. Faith says hi by the way."
"Oh cool." Kristin liked Faith. She had been one of her best friends in New York, she could relate to her because she ran away from her alcoholic mother in Boston and came to New York without anything. She was nice. A little wild, but hey, that's what Spike loved about her, anyway. "What about Gunn? He's doing alright taking your place in LA?"
"He manages. A few days ago he almost begged me to come back one time and take care of some business, but I'm sure he did it fine. I don't wanna have to go back every time there's something that doesn't work fine, Gunn will never be accepted as the leader otherwise. I trust him, that's why I passed him the responsibility of everything. Anyway, Penn came back yesterday from his trip, everything's fine."
Kristin decided to change the subject. "I saw Buffy this morning."
"Ok."
"She was wondering why you weren't with me." She informed him with a grin.
"She was?" He couldn't believe it. He had played what had happened the day before over and over again in his mind, he didn't get over the fact that she had almost kissed him.
"When will you ask her out bro?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I could do it...I mean if her mother hadn't shown up we would have kissed. But I can't take her to the restaurant 'cause I'm completely broke and I'm saving for my apartment anyway, and I WON'T accept money from you."
"Why don't you just take her to the Bronze or something?"
"It wouldn't be right, I don't dance and she would want to." He disagreed.
"You used to dance. Angel you're a great dancer why don't you do like old times?"
"Because it's over." Angel snapped angrily at her, hurt that she could even ask. "It's different now. I can't enjoy myself like this again. I used to do it all the time, and Steven was ALWAYS with me. It was a best-friend kind of thing. I can't do it without my best friend. I don't wanna do it now that I'm alone." Kristin couldn't find anything to reply, so he walked past her toward his English class, feeling even more depressed than before. He knew it was stupid to feel so bad about losing his stake, but it was almost the only thing that connected him with his friends. Ok, Kristin had thousands of pictures, because her dream is being a photographer so she takes pictures of anything that moves, but pictures were another deal. On half the pictures, Steven was beside him, he so didn't need to be reminded of that time.
*****
"Angel?" Buffy repeated a third time. This time he finally looked up, startled. The girl that haunted his dreams lately was sitting on the chair right in front of his, and was smiling at him sweetly.
"Oh, sorry. Hi." He told her, almost in a whisper.
"You ok? 'Cause you're not usually mister 10 minutes early." She teased.
"Er...yeah. I had a bad night."
"So I see."
"What?" He asked, surprised.
"You've got an other black eye." She remarked, tracing the outlines of his eye with her pointing finger. He was clearly surprised that she noticed it.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"See that I got a black eye when it's almost gone." He clarified, obvious to the fact that her finger was still on his face.
"Habit." She answered simply, making him even more curious. "So how did you get it?"
"Er...accident. With my bike. I-I lost control. Ran into a...tree." He lied lamely. *What was I supposed to say? A demon punched me?*
"Does it hurt?" She placed her palm on his cheek and caressed softly his brow with her thumb.
"Not anymore." He whispered, staring intently at her with a smile.
She grinned. *God I love it when he's flirting with me!* As she removed her hand, he quickly took it in his, intertwining fingers. "You look tired." She remarked.
"I kinda stayed up all night. Couldn't sleep." He answered truthfully.
"Why?"
"Nightmares."
"And what about?"
"You?" He grinned raising an eyebrow.
"Hey!" She complained, hitting him softly on the arm. "I only cause dreams. I am not nightmare material! I resent that!"
*She's so cute.* "Well, maybe it was a dream and I couldn't get you out of my mind all night." He flirted.
"Maybe?" She flirted back, licking her suddenly dry lips. Just as he was about to reply, Mr. Peterson entered the class, interrupting their conversation.
*****
Later that morning, in the middle of chemistry class, Principal Snyder entered the lab. He exchanged a few words with the teacher, and looked directly at Angel, who had been talking with Cordelia about basketball, and had been surprised to see he was enjoying talking with the Brunette. Well, as long as they were talking about his favorite sport, 'cause she was scary when it came to shopping.
"Mr. Connelly. I'd like to have a word with you." Snyder announced coldly.
"Great, my first meeting with the principal. I missed those." He murmured as he stood up.
"Don't worry, he seems intimidating at first, but he's just a tiny dwarf, he won't do anything to you." Cordelia whispered to her lab partner.
"It's ok Cordy, I'm used to stick around in the Principal's office. It gets fun after the fiftieth time." He whispered back with a half smile, before he followed Snyder out of the classroom.
When they reached the office, Angel plopped down on the chair and sighed heavily.
"What did I do?" He asked innocently. Actually, it was different from the countless times he had been in a Principal's office before, now he really didn't know what he had done.
"Nothing. YET." Snyder answered as he sat on his chair behind his desk. "I received a call from the social services a few days ago. They wanted to talk about you."
"How come?"
"Probably because of your little trip in the hospital last summer." Snyder smirked.
*Fucking bastard.* "So...what did they want?"
"They insisted that you participated in an activity outside of school. Sport, clubs, whatever that could help you focus on anything besides spreading havoc around school and slicing your wrists." Snyder informed him with a smirk at the end.
*I swear I'll kill him before the end of the year* Angel was particularly annoyed by his superior look. The bastard obviously loved screwing his students' lives. As the dark-haired boy remained silent, the Principal explained HIS point of view. "I don't really care that you respect the wishes of the social services, BUT, I'll make a deal with you."
Angel grinned. "Trying to corrupt me Mr. Snyder?"
"As I was saying" the short man ignored his remark. "I don't want to mess with a governmental institution because of this, so I'm asking you to follow orders for once."
"What's up? You're ashamed to say you need me, sir?" Angel chuckled under his breath as Snyder shot icy glares towards him.
"6 of our basketball players have been attacked last Sunday night while they were in the streets, all of them ended up in the hospital, and they won't be out before at least three months. Also, the coach is out of town for a few weeks. There is a very important game for Sunnydale in a little more than a month. We need players, at least one more so that we can have a full team."
"So you thought about me. How touching." Angel replied sarcastically.
"You better accept my offer Mr. Connelly." Snyder stated coldly.
"Or what? You'll report it to the goddamn social services?"
Snyder remained silent for a moment, going through his papers. "I read your file. I know you are as good at basketball as you are at causing trouble. I spoke with the principal of your last school, and after his long whining about your unspeakable behavior, he relented to say you were an amazingly talented basketball player. Before I knew it he was bragging about all the games you helped winning thanks to your incredible capacity to score a 3 pointers from the very end of the field at the last second."
"Jeez, you're making me blush sir." Angel rolled his eyes. Only a moron like his former principal was able to hate him with such intensity and passion as a student and admire him so much when he was holding a basketball. Suddenly, the bell rang, announcing the end of that period and also the lunch break.
"Angel? What do you think of my offer?"
"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"
"No you don't."
"Then I accept. I wouldn't want to disappoint a polite man with a good heart like yourself, would I?"
"Follow me." Snyder commended, his glare more and more intense as they left the office.
Angel followed Snyder reluctantly around the crowded corridors of the school, to an area with couches and chairs not far from the cafeteria.
"They are always at the same place. Always in groups, packed in so-called gangs. This is pitiful." Snyder groaned under his breath as he made his way towards a group of people. Angel didn't recognize anyone except Cordelia.
"Chase, Martin, Lowell and West." Snyder called for their attention. The four of them stopped their chat and turned toward their principal.
"Yes sir?" Percy West spoke.
"In case you don't know who this young man is, this is Angel Connelly. He has been transferred from Los Angeles" As Snyder was briefly introducing Angel, the annoyed demon hunter was calmly walking away hands in his pockets, the older man oblivious that the student had left. Cordy, Hogan, Brad and Percy had noticed the boy leaving and had to bite their lips to keep from laughing. Eventually, Snyder looked over at where Angel had been standing and saw he was gone. Much to the four remaining students' surprise, Snyder didn't say anything. He merely shook his head before talking again. "When you see that boy, try to talk to him. He's joining the team. He's an official Sunnydale High basketball player for now on. He shall participate in every practices and meetings and games. Got it?"
"Got it." The four answered in unison, as Snyder was leaving.
"How the hell does Snyder expect us to win the game if the first loser he sees join the team?" Brad, one of the best players, asked Cordy, Hogan the captain of the team, and Percy.
"Wow! Angel is my friend, buddy!" Cordelia snapped at him. "I might not have known him for a long time, but I know enough to guess that he's a pretty good player. He's been playing for years at school."
"I've got nothing against the guy, but we have no more replacements, so he better be good. You talk to him, get him on the field this afternoon after school." Percy told Cordelia. He wanted to believe the cheerleader, but he couldn't help the idea that a guy chosen by Snyder wouldn't be their best shot at winning the state championships.
*********