Only Time Will Tell
Summary – Who dies when 'it' comes? Who lives? What happens to Gunn after this last battle? The end is coming, but for who? Only time will tell…
Disclaimer – I own nothing except the idea of what happened after Not Fade Away. I don't own the characters; I don't own the original story. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
Author's Note – Wow, my brains can play some really weird tricks on me hey? I don't know what will become of these four heroes. I don't know where this story is headed, but I do know that someone will die this chapter. At least one person, but it might not be who you expect.
Chapter Two – Lorne?
Around the corner and into the alley came five rather large and ugly looking cloaked creatures. Their faces were not visible and they were each about seven feet tall.
'Is this what you saw coming?' Spike turned to Illyria. 'I've taken on bigger things than that.'
'Spike, I don't think now is the time for gloating.' Angel said.
'Let's just kill these things already.' Gunn stepped forward, into the alley. He picked up the sword from one of the demons. Preparing himself for attack, he ran forward and jumped at the lead cloaked creature. With a wave of one arm it knocked him across the alley and into the wall of the Wolfram and Hart building; or at least what was left of it.
'Gunn!' Angel yelled. He watched in horror as the creatures moved swiftly towards them, gliding across the wet pavement. The rain had died down but it was still lightly sprinkling. Angel raised his sword in defence, and Spike and Illyria prepared themselves for attack in a similar way. Illyria stood there, her gaze focussed on the creatures. Spike took an axe from one of the piles of dust lying near his feet and raised it as a guard.
'Charge!' someone yelled suddenly. Lorne. It seemed that he hadn't given up on his and the gang's relationship yet.
'Lorne?' Angel said, surprised. Out of nowhere came a rise of men. Were they men, or were they vampires? Vampires; Angel could tell by their smell. Lorne allowed the vamps to attack the creatures, keeping them busy while he hurried over to his friends.
'You told us you weren't coming.' Spike said, shocked.
'I wasn't, not until I had backup. I knew we couldn't' win this fight on our own, so I got help. It took a bit of persuading, but I got some friendly vampires to help.'
'Friendly vampires?' Angel asked suspiciously. 'Is that possible, I mean, besides us?' he gestured to Spike and himself.
'Well, I had to use my voice as persuasion. I never knew how much people loved to hear me sing.' He beamed.
'Well, it's good to have you here. I thought we'd never see you again.' Angel said, hugging Lorne (in the most manly way possible). His brown overcoat was sopping wet, but underneath Lorne was warm.
'We'll it's good to see you again too Angel cakes. I mean, when I told you that I wouldn't be seeing you after my rendezvous with Lindsey, I thought that I was serious. But after some serious thinking and some serious drinking I decided that I couldn't turn my back on an old friend. Especially someone as old as you Angel.' Lorne's speech was touching to Angel, and he absorbed every word and thought about it for a moment.
'Thanks Lorne, it's good to know that you're back on the team. But I can't help wondering where you found all these vampires. I mean, where can they all hang out?'
'Well, there's a new karaoke bar down the street and when I sung there all the creatures of the night were suddenly willing to help me. Only if I sung for them again.' Angel smiled. 'Which I did. So they called all their buddies and then they called all their buddies and suddenly I had an army on my hands. As you can see, at least a hundred and fifty strong. Nice work for a green demon with horns, hey?' Lorne laughed off the situation and suddenly noticed Gunn.
He brushed past Angel and Spike and rushed to Gunn's side. He lay on the pavement at the base of what was left of the Wolfram and Hart building, bleeding and slowly dying. Again.
'Lorne?' Gunn whispered, looking up from where he lay against the base of the wall.
'Yeah it's me Charles.' Lorne said. 'Man, what happened to you? You're pretty beaten up.'
'Battled the beasts of Hell. Did you think I was gonna survive that? I knew when I started that I was gonna die by the time the night was through.' Gunn tried to pull himself up into a sitting position against the wall.
Angel, Spike and Illyria gathered loosely around Gunn and Lorne. Illyria stood furthest back from Gunn, fearing that another close to her would die.
'Gunn...' Angel began.
Gun raised a hand to silence him. 'No Angel, it's alright. I've fought my fair share. I've won my battles over the years. Personal too. And once in every man's life comes the battle he can't win. This is the battle I was meant to lose in. I'm sorry Angel, but this is it.'
'No Gunn, I don't want you to take the fall for this. This was never your fight. This was always a team fight, and if the team fights then the team will fall. No 'one' person is going to take the fall for all this.'
'And what of Wesley then?' Illyria piped up. 'Was he not part of this team? He fell, yet the team is still strong.'
'Wesley…' Angel started. 'Wesley's no different to any of us except that he died by ways we couldn't stop. His job was to kill a member of the Black Thorn, and he did his job. Unfortunately, he didn't make it out. Now I don't know the details, but I'd say that Wesley's fight wasn't just for our team, but as a personal fight. For Fred. Even though he was a part of this team and he fell, that doesn't mean that the team can't fight on.'
'Then what of Gunn? Shall he die also, like Wesley?' Illyria continued.
'Illyria, please. There is a simple idea here: team. The team is all that we need to be worried about. And the Senior Partners, because if they have anything more to do with this fight, which they will, then it's only a matter of time before we're all dead.'
'The team fights together, the team falls together…' Spike murmured. Angel turned to him and nodded.
'Sorry to be the bearer of bad news guys, but this is it. This team; it will fall. I'm sorry to bring you this far only to tell you that you're going to die, but I figured you all knew it in the beginning.'
'Yeah Angel, and that's what we signed up for.' Spike said. 'To die. And not just to die, but to die for a cause. That's what we're doing, right?'
'Exactly right Spike. And we're going to die here in this alley. Tonight.'
Next on Angel… The death you've all been waiting for. Wait no longer, I say. Know who it's going to be yet? Come on, take a guess.