Disclaimer: Since my name is not Joss Whedon, 'Angel' and all the characters associated with the show belong to someone who isn't me. I also don't own the storyline - that's taken from gidgetgirl's 'Twice The Trouble' Challenge, posted on the Chocolate Covered Strawberries Challenge Archive.
'Twice The Trouble' Challenge
A Fred Throwback. In season five of Angel, Illyria's attempt to takeover Fred's body is thwarted by the Powers that Be, and the result is that, when Illyria enters Fred's body, the body splits in half: into two identical little girls, save one has blue hair. The Angel gang has to keep little Illyria (if that's her name...) from taking over the world, and take care of little Fred. You take it from there.
Requirements:
The evil one must have blue hair.
Harmony must make an appearance in the fic.
Both Gunn and Wes must babysit... one of the girls must like each of them better than the other.
Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the first part of this story. I had hoped to get this chapter up sooner, but I've been pretty busy lately.
Author's Note II: To Spana - I completely agree with you. I was devastated when I heard that Fred was more or less gone, especially since she and Wesley had only just got together. It was so unfair! That's why I took this challenge. That and I've never read a Fred-kidfic before. (If anyone knows of one, please tell me)
Author's Note III: I'm not one hundred percent sure what abilities Illyria (the adult version) possesses. I think that she's invulnerable to weapons. If I'm wrong, please let me know.
Words in / / = Thoughts.
Chapter 1.
"You can bloody well say that again!" Spike regarded the two little girls apprehensively. "What are we supposed to with them now?"
"What has happened here?" Illyria's eyes blazed with fury. "Where is my Qwa'ha Xhan? I cannot sense my Qwa'ha Xhan?"
"Your who?" Even Wesley, the one with the most knowledge of Illyria, was completely unfamiliar with the term.
"I want my Qwa'ha Xhan!" Illyria stamped her foot in a very ungodlike manner. "I don't want to be in this body! Fix me! Now!"
Spike, despite the seriousness of their predicament, couldn't resist letting out a brief snort of laughter. "Not very intimidating in that outfit, pet."
Ignoring the blond vampire, Illyria glared up at Wesley. "You did something." Her tone was cold and accusatory. "You are the reason that I am trapped in this . . ." She scowled down at her small hands. " . . . Infantile shell."
"Hey!" Little Fred balked, offended by this perceived insult to her person. "I'm not a baby. I'm four!" She bit her lower lip, her eyes filling with tears. "I want to go home."
Angel crouched down in front of her, feeling decidedly uncomfortable. "It's alright." He tried to sound reassuring. "We're your friends, Fred, you can trust us, I promise."
"Nuh-uh." Fred backed away from him "Mommy and Daddy told me never to trust strangers. Not even if they give you candy or toys or anything." She added solemnly, destroying any hope the adults might have entertained of bribing her to cooperate.
Illyria regarded her counterpart with a scornful expression. "Human sorrow." She wrinkled her little nose in distaste." It's like offal in my mouth."
"That's enough!" Wesley snapped, glaring at the little blue-haired goddess. "Listen to me, Fred," He knelt down in front of her. "Everything's okay, I promise." He looked over at little Illyria. "We just need you both to come with us so that we can figure out what's happening."
The miniature goddess took a moment to weigh her distaste for humans against her desire for answers and nodded slowly. "I will come with you." She consented, as though it was a great condescension on her part. "But I will want answers soon." She added, raising a warning finger.
"Fine." Wesley turned to Fred, holding out his hand.
The little girl shook her head firmly. "No."
"Your parents told me to tell you that it's okay." He tried. "They want us to take care of you for a while."
Fred stuck out her lower lip stubbornly. "Prove it." She challenged.
/Prove it? How the Devil am I supposed to . . . / "Hang on." Wesley took out his cellphone and moved into another room for a couple of minutes before emerging, holding the phone out to Fred. "Here."
She took the phone warily. "Hello?" Her face brightened. "Hi, Mommy. Where are you? Where's Daddy? Who are these people? Are they kidnappers?" There was a pause as her questions were answered. "Are you sure?" Another pause. "Okay. Bye Mommy. Love you." She handed the phone back to Wesley. "Mommy said that you guys are good and not kidnappers." She announced cheerfully. "She said to go with you guys."
Wesley sighed in relief. He hadn't been sure if it would work. "You girls go down to the car with Spike." He instructed. "We'll be down in a bit."
Angel waited until the two little girls, together with a very unhappy Spike, had left the apartment before turning to Wesley. "What did you tell Trish?" He asked in a low voice, knowing how protective Mr and Mrs Burkle were of their only child. "Will she and Roger be coming down from Texas?"
Wesley shook his head. "That wasn't Trish." He told his friend regretfully. He had hated lying to Fred, whatever her age.
"Then who . . .?"
"A sorcerer from the Magical Department. A simple vocal glamour." Wesley sighed. "I had to get her to trust us and I didn't want to drag her parents into this mess." He defended, though Angel hadn't challenged him.
/Who are you trying to convince, Wes? / His inner voice chided him. /Angel - or yourself? /
* * *
An hour later, Practical Science Department.
"So what do we know so far?" Gunn asked, joining Angel, Wesley and Spike in Fred's lab, where they were watching the Practical Science team - bar Knox who was being detained by Security - were running a series of tests on Fred and Illyria.
To say that Gunn had been surprised to see his three colleagues walking into the building with the two little girls in tow would have qualified as the understatement of the millennium.
Charles Gunn had spent the last fourteen years fighting demons and vampires and this definitely ranked as one of the strangest things he had ever seen.
"So far, we know that there is not so much as a fraction of a difference in their height and weight and that their fingerprints are an exact match." Wesley sighed impatiently. "Which means that our highly qualified and over-paid science experts have been able to tell us that they're identical. Which we knew."
"They're running blood tests now.' Angel volunteered. "To see if they can learn anything useful from them and maybe figure out how to reverse this." He looked over to where the two girls were sitting side by side on the examination table, various members of the science team bustling around them. "It doesn't seem to be working out as planned." He commented dryly.
The lab tech tending to Illyria seemed to be growing more frustrated by the minute as he attempted to take a blood sample from the small deity – not an easy task when her skin was invulnerable to weapons of any kind.
A small pile of bent needles had accumulated before the lab tech finally admitted defeat and turned his attention to Fred.
The four year old shut her eyes tightly as the lab tech took her trembling hand, poising the needle above her inner arm.
Wesley came running at the first cry, scooping the little girl up and cradling her in his arms as he tried to staunch the blood flow.
"I'm so sorry!" The lab tech was devastated. "I must have hit a vein! Oh God, I'm . . ."
A piercing shriek of pain tore through the lab, practically shattering the eardrums of everyone in the room.
Illyria, her blue eyes wide and fearful, stared down at her own arm in confusion, gingerly touching the red liquid flowing from it with the index finger of her other hand.
"Blood." Her voice was filled with awe. When she looked up at Wesley and the tech, her expression had lost some of her customary arrogance, replaced by a tinge of fear. "Why am I bleeding?"
TBC.
I've managed to update three stories in two days. A personal best.
Please review, let me know what you think and if there's anything anyone would like to see.