Disclaimer: Angel belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, not me.
Author's Note: Thank you, faythslayer for the review! This is a short chapter, I know, but it's another Illyria one.
Fred: "You're right about all of it except for one thing. What we did, I felt it. Every bit of it. And, you know, sometimes when I allow myself to think about it, it eats me up inside."
Gunn: "Yeah, me, too."
Fred: "Well, I don't know about you, but...I'd take that over being a shell any day." --from "Sacrifice"
Illyria, God-King of the Primordium, lay on the floor of the third floor hall where she had collapsed. To one who did not know of her mighty power, it might look as if she were ill or wounded. She was neither. Even the wounds inflicted by the servants of the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart had healed. Not even the vast amounts of energy she had expended to resurrect her four fallen comrades was enough to exhaust her. At least, that is what she assured herself.
No, she had chosen to fall when she first felt the metaphysical tugging in her gut. It took her only seconds to trace the psychic link from her abdomen to the heart of Wesley's shell. Each beat of his restored heart caused a twinge in her gut. She laid a hand over place where he tugged at her and scowled. She had been most reluctant to breathe life into his body for just this reason. His ties to this shell of hers were strong, despite that they had been formed of such a weak emotion as love.
Another twinge and this one was like real pain. She sucked in a startled gasp. His soul must desperately be search for some remains of the shell's spirit in her. Such efforts were futile…all scraps of the woman who had possessed the shell prior to Illyria had been obliterated by the coming of the god-king.
She pressed herself harder against the dusty, plush-ness of the carpet, trying to sink into it. The fibers brushed against her, and her mind clung to the tactile anchor. She once ruled all she surveyed with an iron fist—she would not succumb to the tugging of one pathetic mortal soul.