Author's note: Hi angelwings and Merykey!
Merykey, I'm afraid this is the end of Champions for now. Connor's staying around, but the next few stories will not be focused on him.
angelwings, if you think I'm tearing down Deirbhile now just wait a while. See what you think of Come the 'Pocalyse, posting in a few months. (Looks around) (Whispers) Want a sneak preview? (Normal tone) Review or email me!
Those who do not Remember
7
Standing beside Connor still, Wes watched as Deirbhile backed away, muttering words he couldn't catch under her breath. Acting on impulse, he turned to Connor.
"Connor, Deirbhile's in trouble. She needs help."
Connor twitched slightly but showed no signs of waking; Wes thought for a moment and tried again. "Tara's in trouble, Connor. She needs you to help her. I can't do it."
Connor shifted again, vague awareness coming back into his face. "Wesley?"
"Yes." Wes agreed. "Can you see me?"
"No…empty…"
"No, it's not. You're in a warehouse. Concentrate, Connor. Tara needs your help."
"Afraid…"
"Don't be. There's no danger here."
"Her." Even only half-conscious, Connor managed to sound annoyed.
"Deirbhile's afraid?" Wes glanced over his shoulder. She'd backed herself up against a pillar and was fighting…well, nothing he could see. "Yes. She needs you, Connor…I can't see what she's fighting."
Connor's eyes closed; when he opened them again he was fully back. "Wes."
"Connor." Wes returned.
Connor looked at Deirbhile, frowning. "Son of a…"
"What is it?" Wes demanded.
"Never mind." Connor strode across to stand beside her. "Tara, listen to me."
"Help…" Deirbhile whimpered.
Connor shook his head. "No. Listen to me, Tara. Not afraid."
"Connor…" Wes started.
"Her battle." He didn't turn. "Not mine. Tara…"
"I'm not a victim. I'm not afraid." Deirbhile breathed.
"Good." He stepped aside. "Kill him."
"Connor…"
"Kill him." Connor repeated.
"I'm not a victim. I'm not afraid." Deirbhile repeated. She blinked, awareness coming back into her eyes. "Stephen…"
"Better?" he asked, crossing back to Wes and rummaging through the weapons bag.
"Yeah." She tilted her head to one side. "Ow. Fear hangover."
"Can you break the others free?" Wes asked her.
"No. Just Connor."
"That was stupid." Connor told her, passing by them on a self-appointed perimeter sweep. "What if it hadn't worked? What if he'd caught you?"
"I have faith in you." she said tiredly.
Catching Wes' look, she added, "Connor's my Warrior. If I was in enough danger I was fairly sure he'd sense it."
"Fairly sure? You risked your life…and the life of everyone on the planet, I may add…on a 'fairly sure'?"
"Eden wins, no one on this planet's going to have much of a life anyway. Anyway, I told you. I have faith in Connor."
"Faith in someone is one thing." Wes started, but Connor came back before he could finish.
"Gunn and Angel." he said, pointing in two different directions. "Neither of 'em talking."
"All right. So the question now is, how do we stop Eden with most of our Champions out of the running?" Wes said.
"Don't you have resources now?" Deirbhile asked, catching Connor's arm when he would have gone on another circuit of the building. "Just stop for a second, ok?" she said softly.
"Not evil-former-Elf killing resources, no." Wes told her.
"Well, your Champions may be out of it, but mine are fine."
"Are fine?" he repeated quickly.
"Leave it. Connor…"
"There's no one else here. No portal, nothing." He shrugged frustratedly. "I don't know if there was anyone else here. We didn't get a chance to find out."
"Ok, so then we call him out."
"Call him out?" Wes repeated. "This is a demon, not a cowboy!"
"Oddly, I knew that. Trust me. He'll come."
Turning, she began a string of sentences in what almost had to be Irish. Wes' Gaelic was woefully inadequate, though, and he couldn't translate.
Connor came to stand beside him and began a running translation; after a minute or two, however, Wes waved him to stop. Irish insults apparently leaned towards the parents, the home life, and manners, and there was only so much Wes could take.
"My, your language has deteriorated!" someone called from the shadows. Connor tensed, but without even looking Deirbhile gestured him back.
"How would you know? I never spoke with you before!" she responded.
"Release our friends!" Wes added.
"They're not your friends." Eden protested. He hadn't stepped forward yet. "Didn't the vampire…excuse me, one of the vampires…try to smother you? Without even hearing you out?"
"Oh my, you're right." Wes drawled. "How stupid of me. I guess I'll just go home and wait for the end of the world, then."
"Unoriginal much?" Deirbhile added.
"You've always been a child, Thariin." Eden said in disgust.
"Yup." she agreed brightly. "Are we settled on that?" Glancing at Connor, she added something quietly in what was very definitely not Irish.
"How did you get out?" Eden asked, doing his best to sound nonchalant.
"I had friends to help me." Connor said, easing away from Deirbhile to her right. Catching on, Wes moved to her left.
"It's not like I'm using a gun, you know." Eden said exasperatedly. "You don't all have to be in the same place for me to hit you."
"Try it." Deirbhile's voice was full of steel.
Wes glanced back at her, murmuring a basic reveal spell, and saw a web of magic emanating from her and surrounding Connor and himself. Strands glimmered in the fog, going behind them and around Eden to the other side of the warehouse, and for a moment he was confused until he remembered the others, still locked in whatever private hell they were occupying.
Under the blue of her magic, bright, sickly green shone dimly around Connor and Deirbhile and glowed from three other locations around the warehouse floor. "Deirbhile?" he called softly.
"Ignore it." she answered shortly. "Tell me, Eden, why didn't you fade away?"
"Go under the ground?" Eden's tone was horrified. "How can you…the thought of it!"
"Huh." Deirbhile frowned. "Throwback."
"What?" His tone was sharp again.
"You're a throwback, Eden." Her tone was mildly interested. "You're an Elf, not Tuatha. Not in that thing, anyway. No elf would willingly go under the ground. It's suffocating."
"You have." Eden's voice was cold. "I've seen you do it."
"Yes, but I'm not really an Elf anymore." Her gaze flickered to her right. The four formed a sort of lopsided square now, Connor closer to Eden and Wes closer to Deirbhile. "You know that, right? You've been wandering around here for five thousand years or so, you know some about me?"
"Your husband was nice." Eden said. "But who was that other man?"
Deirbhile tensed. "No one. Just a noble at the court."
"Oh? Then why…"
Light flared abruptly as Connor slashed with his dagger, not at Eden but at a point in front of him. Wes threw up an arm, too slow to protect his eyes, and tried to focus through the sudden tears.
"Stay there." Deirbhile said from beside him, and then she was moving away, towards Connor. "Connor? Don't…"
A wordless yell from behind startled Wes, and he spun, peering uselessly into the depths of the fog. "Gunn!" Connor yelled. "Over here."
"What the hell is going on?" Gunn stumbled into Wes, who steadied him automatically.
"Just stay put." Deirbhile said, and then, softer, "Connor, go see if…"
"What about Eden?" Wes protested, letting go of Gunn to move forward.
"I've got him." Deirbhile sounded oddly tired. "But I can't hold him, which is why we need Spike and Angel…put your head down for a minute." she added.
Wes turned slightly and could see Gunn taking her advice, lowering his head. "You all right?" he asked.
"Just dizzy, is all." Gunn looked up. "You?"
"Yes." Wes wiped his eyes.
"What's goin' on?"
"At the moment? We're waiting for Angel and Spike so we can finish killing Eden."
"How'd you break us out?"
"Good question. Deirbhile? How did Connor break them out?"
"The dagger broke the cords binding them to Eden. The severing of those threads sent him into…sort of shock. But any second now he's gonna wake up, and I can't stop him. Connor!" She raised her voice in a yell.
"Coming! Give us a break, it's been like two minutes."
"Way too much time with Max." she muttered, turning back to Eden.
Wes realized abruptly that his vision had cleared enough that he could see them, and as he glanced around he could see Connor, Spike and Angel coming towards them. Connor moved past him without the slightest acknowledgment and began a whispered conversation with Deirbhile.
"What's going on?" Angel asked. Though shaky, he already looked more or less himself.
"We need to kill him." Connor said, coming back towards them. "You can handle that?"
"What's to stop him doing that mumbo-jumbo again? Sending us back there?" Spike asked.
"He can't." Deirbhile was still standing over Eden, not looking at them. When Angel realized Eden was right there, he lurched up to stand beside her. "Remember the conversation about power sources? He's running on empty. He might be able to light a match or a candle, but I doubt it."
Spike came up on her other side. "Sure?"
"Yeah. Blocking him from you sent him out of control for a second. All his power bled off."
"Where to?" Wes asked.
"Mostly into blinding you." She didn't so much as look back at him, still staring at the body lying at her feet. "Flashy. He always was."
Connor snagged her arm, drawing her back and away. Spike and Angel exchanged looks, and then Angel turned to them. "Why don't you guys go? We'll…be back later."
"I'll wait around." Gunn said.
Wes nodded. "I…believe I might return to Wolfram and Hart. Connor, Deirbhile?"
Deirbhile murmured something to Connor, who shook his head and said, "Medical first. We're coming with you, Wes."
"Very well." he agreed. Nodding to Angel and the others, he gestured Connor and Deirbhile out ahead of him.
Connor found Deirbhile on the roof of the Wolfram and Hart building late the next afternoon; he hadn't seen her at all since they'd returned the previous evening.
"Feel better?" he asked, leaning against the wall beside her. Deirbhile nodded, pulling her legs up and turning so she was sitting on top of the wall rather than dangling halfway off it.
"Yeah."
Connor studied the view for a minute. "I was thinking of leaving the city."
"Yeah?" Deirbhile eyed him cautiously. "To go where?"
"Haven't decided yet. LA is Angel's city. I want to go somewhere different."
Deirbhile slid off the wall, watching him. "Thank you." she said finally.
"Whatever. Come inside so we can tell him."
"Angel? Yeah, coming…" She paused to look at the city again.
"Something wrong?"
"No. Eden's followers are dispersing. The peist are gone, the bean sidhe's stopped crying, and na Clann Alta have gone to wherever they'd been hiding." She smiled at him. "Things are back to normal."
"Let's see how long that lasts." Connor muttered.
"Hey, we could go to San Francisco." Deirbhile suggested brightly, heading for the door.
"No. They already have protectors."
"True. Um, there's a place called Colorado Springs…"
"Sounds boring. What else?"
"Perfectionist!"
She laughed as the door swung shut behind them, blocking out the last of the sunset.
