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.
Chapter 13.
Angel's office.
"No." Wesley's voice was hoarse. "Absolutely not."
"I agree." Angel backed his friend up. "It's too dangerous."
"I know." Willow sighed. "If there was any alternative, I'd take it but it's the only way to get Fred back the way she was."
"We can't risk it!" Wesley exclaimed. "It would be better to leave them as they are than to take this chance."
The red-haired witch shook her head sadly. "It wouldn't work out that way, Wes. They're not supposed to exist as separate individuals. Illyria was supposed to completely overshadow Fred. You were given a reprieve, but it's only temporary. Unless we do something now, you only have a couple of weeks, a month at most before they start to reintegrate. As it is, they're creating havoc with the cosmic balance just by being here. I'd say that there's a ninety percent chance that the girls will reintegrate as Illyria by the end of the month."
"That still leaves ten percent." Gunn's tone was hopeful. "That's better than nothing. If there's a ten percent chance that we can save Fred without taking this chance . . ."
"It wouldn't work that way." Willow interrupted gently. "I visited the astral plane today. Their auras are starting to mesh. Soon they'll be sharing thoughts, memories, souls, everything."
"Illyria mentioned something about some of Fred's memories replacing her own." Wesley spoke quietly.
Willow nodded. "She's at a disadvantage. She's a little more out of her element than Fred is but it won't be long before Fred starts to experience Illyria's memories. Even if they don't reintegrate physically, they'll reintegrate mentally. They'll be left as Illyria-Fred hybrids, with Illyria in the driving seat, like one kid in two bodies. Once they grow up their powers will have developed fully, if your scientists are right, and they'll be even more dangerous than one Illyria would be. You know what that would mean for the world."
"You're asking us to kill her." Wesley could barely speak. The idea was too horrible for him to grasp.
I wish that I could think of something better." Willow's eyes were dark with regret. "But the only way to reintegrate the girls as Fred is to send Illyria back where she came from and make sure that Fred is close enough so that their physical bodies reintegrate once Illyria is gone, otherwise, she'll die when her counterpart does. I won't lie. There's a good chance that this process will kill Fred. But, hey," She made a determined effort to look cheerful. "It's not like I haven't brought anyone back from the dead before."
Later that night, Fred's suite.
Wesley had had to make difficult decisions before.
The decision to join forces with Angel, effectively turning his back on everything he had been taught at the Watcher's Academy by working with a vampire, had ended up transforming him as a person, giving him a strength and a confidence that would have astonished anyone who had known him when he was younger.
A choice that should have been the hardest he ever faced, a decision made in the blink of an eye, to kill his father to save the woman he loved.
Deciding to pursue a relationship with Fred, despite knowing the potential pitfalls of an office romance, the very real dangers they faced every day.
Had he been able to do it all over again, remake his choices, Wesley wouldn't have changed a thing.
With little Fred too young to make the choice for herself, with the Burkles being kept in blissful ignorance and with none of his friends willing to assume the burden of this decision, Wesley was left facing the most painful decision of his life, one that nobody should ever have had to make.
To stand by and watch as the person he loved more dearly and more deeply than he had ever loved anyone was overshadowed, forced out of her body by an ancient deity who would use her form to wreak havoc, or to take a chance, to risk everything on the slim possibility that she could be brought back.
He had no idea what he should do.
"Wesley!" The small object of his thoughts tugged at his hand impatiently. "You're not listening to me."
"Sorry, love." Wesley brushed a lock of hair out of her face, glancing down at the closed book in her hands. "It was a lovely story." He ventured, having heard scarcely a word of the bedtime story that she had been reading to him.
Little Fred gave him a sceptical look. "What was it about?"
"Uhh . . ." The back cover of the book was decidedly unhelpful. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I was thinking."
"About what?"
"Something I have to decide." He hugged her close.
"Is that why you're sad?" She touched his face with her tiny hand. "If you talk about it, you'll feel better."
"I don't think that's going to help, darling." He said gently.
"You don't know until you try." Little Fred pointed out logically. "Tell me."
Wesley gave her a small smile. "Alright."
Sensing a story, little Fred climbed into his lap and curled up in his arms, scooping a purring Wanker into her own arms.
Wesley paused for a moment, trying to come up with a way to phrase his story so that the four year old would understand. He took a deep breath before beginning.
"Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was lost in a horrible world . . ."
Illyria's suite.
"Do you want anything else?" Harmony asked cheerfully, tucking the covers more closely around Illyria.
The little goddess refused to say a word to the vampire, she just lay there scowling at her.
"Liri?" Harmony was rather hurt by the silent treatment.
"Don't call me that!" The small deity snapped, her indignation breaking through her self-imposed silence. "My name is Illyria." She kicked moodily at the covers. "The sooner I am returned to the Deeper Well, the better. I can no longer tolerate this world. When I return in a few millennia, perhaps the human pestilence will have succeeded in wiping itself out." The little goddess smiled at the thought.
"Here's hoping." Harmony smiled cheerfully, mortally offending Illyria by bending forward to give her a hug. "I'm going to miss you."
"Harmony?" Illyria gave the vampire a small smile. "Will you do something for me?"
"Depends. What is it?"
"I need you to track down the priests of my order. Kill my worthless Qwa'ha Xhan and make sure that the others know that I am not to be disturbed again while the humans hold sway on this world."
"Will do." Harmony grinned. "Can I eat him?"
Illyria nodded graciously. "If you wish."
Harmony ruffled her hair gently. "Liri, if I was going to be anyone's minion, I'd be yours."
Half an hour later, Fred's suite.
"So you see my problem?" Wesley kissed the top of the little girl's head. "What do you think I should do?"
"Try to save the princess, of course." Fred told him solemnly. "What else are you going to do?"
"But it's so dangerous!"
"It always is in good fairytales." The four year old informed him. "Look." She opened the book to show a beautifully drawn illustration of a castle surrounded by thorns, guarded by a dragon and a prince, looking very small, even on his white horse, charging into the fray, his sword held aloft. "It was really dangerous for the prince to try to get to the castle where the princess is sleeping but he did 'cause he loved her and if he hadn't she'd have died anyway - after a hundred years of sleeping she'd have starved to death. But he saved her and they lived happily ever after. In fairytales, sometimes you have to take a chance." She finished wisely. "It's always worth it in the end. If I was the princess, that's what I'd want you to do."
Wesley smiled at her. "Is it?"
"Of course. You can't have 'happily ever after' if you don't try. Besides," She smiled up at him. "Princesses are tougher than they look."
TBC.