Title: Full Of Grace
Author: Cherry Sinclaire/Emella
Email:
Pairing: none
Rating: R
Summary: Angel makes a discovery.
Warning: Extremely Dark! Character Deaths ahead!
Timeline: Post Not Fade Away/Chosen (Spike never came back)
Author Note: I find myself delving into darkfic, so be warned. Review if you want. Thanks for reading.
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"I feel just like I'm sinking
And I claw for solid ground
I'm pulled down by the undertow
I never thought I could feel so low
Oh darkness I feel like letting go"
'Full Of Grace' - Sarah McLachlan
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Angel smelled the blood before he saw it. It was a sweet scent, honey and copper, steel and maple syrup. He remembered it.
Blood always smelled a little different between different people. Families smelled alike, tasted alike. Some people's blood tasted sour, usually those that were diseased or sick. Virgin's blood was the sweetest, untouched by everything. It always reminded him of daisies and sugar cane. Sweet like sugar but innocent like daisies.
The smell that greeted him was close to a virgin's it was sweet and pure and strong. Seemingly innocent, but it had seen fears no one should. The scent would attract demons for miles.
He knew who was bleeding.
His first instinct was to drink, but he always suppressed the first one. The second was to break down the door.
"Are you alright?" He called through the door.
He knew he wouldn't get an answer.
With a heave and a shove he pressed into the door, splintering it and creating a hole big enough for his arm to unlock the door.
He pushed it aside and stared at the sight in front of him.
The bathroom was white. The tiles stood out blindingly so.
He was sitting beside the bathtub, one arm thrown over the edge, the other laying across his lap the red liquid spreading across the white floor.
It had been two years since the first one died.
It was Giles first.
Giles, the proper British librarian with a mean streak. He was killed doing what he did best; helping. A Glochnarg demon got him before Buffy could stop it. He'd saved one of the newer slayers from the other Glochnarg's wrath, but it's mate just reached out and skewered and clawed at his throat.
Willow held his hand while he died.
Buffy was next. She had saved the world 18 times and apparently 19 was the magic number. Eight months after Giles died she took the hit that saved them all. Sacrificed herself to save the world. Again. She would go down in the history books as the greatest slayer to ever live. She was, she had awakened the entire line and saved the world along the way. There was a memorial and a biography on her, well they were still writing the biography, but she had her own chapter in the new slayer handbook.
Dawn died from a car accident.
It had taken her a few months to get over her sister's death. Everything was getting so good. She had graduated from high school in May and was working for the new Watcher's Council in London. Her boyfriend and her shared a two bedroom flat and she was on her way home early to surprise him.
A truck ran a red light and hit her going 65 kilometers an hour. She had four different surgeries and died in a coma two weeks later.
The driver of the truck was put in jail for 30 years with probation after 20.
The last to go was Willow.
It had happened almost 2 months ago. She was performing a spell to anoint a protective talisman when a nest of vampires decided they were hungry. The two slayers protecting her went down after 10 minutes. Willow was dead after 11.
Angel heard about the funeral from Andrew, one of the few original Sunnydalers left. When Angel showed up he found Xander in an almost catatonic state. The boy had lived through 12 apocalypses, losing an eye, and 32 near death experiences.
After 2 days Angel decided to take Xander with him back to L.A. Xander didn't really object, he hadn't said more than 'yes' or 'no' since the funeral.
After a month he was talking normally and even seemed to be getting better.
So when Angel entered the bathroom and found him laying in a pool of blood, his wrists slashed, he was surprised.
The blood slowly beaded down Xander's wrists, a drop falling into the tub, making a tiny sound that echoed through Angel's ears like the clanging of the Liberty Bell.
Angel dropped to Xander's side and checked his pulse, slow and steady, fading. Xander's eyes were closed and a razor blade lay on the floor beside him, the metal glinting harshly in the white room.
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Xander heard his name through a haze of fear and sadness. He could tell that whoever was calling to him was far away. He was losing blood slower now, he could feel his heart slowing down.
The last thing he remembered before falling completely unconscious was that his mouth tasted like salt and he was starting to get cold.
When he woke up his stomach was empty and he was extremely thirsty.
Finis