AUTHOR'S NOTE: A chapter of almost nothing but a flashback. Pretty heavy on the angst, but some chapters are bound to be.

PS: I still need an answer for the question I asked in my last note.

CHAPTER 12 -CRIME AND PUNISHMENT-

At first Angel could not see anything and thought that the whole concept of someone showing another person their memory. Then again, Angel reasoned, he had gone through stranger things. But soon he was preoccupied by an image slowly coming into focus.

Once the image had cleared up, Angel realized that he was standing in an enormous cavern. Right in front of him arouse a cliff on top of which stood three imposing figures, a woman and two men. As Angel turned around he saw dozens of other very humanlike, elementals he presumed, figures lining the walls of the cavern talking with each other in subdued tones.

The man standing on the woman's right side on the cliff signalled for silence. "The grand council of the highest spirits is called to order."

The man on the left spoke out. "We have gathered here in the grim task of judging one of our own. Bring the accused in."

Angel turned around to see Mabon led to the centre of the cavern by two huge elementals. As Mabon entered, some of the elementals cast disapproving looks at his direction. Mabon looked dishevelled and dwarfed between his guards, his hair was knotted up and Angel could swear he was limping.

"Mabon, you have been called before us to answer to charges of treason. How to you plead?" the female elemental asked.

Mabon looked up the cliff. "I'm innocent."

"I should advice you that we have very incriminating evidence against you."

"I have not done anything. I've told you before."

"It is not so much what you have or have not done, but what you are."

"What do you mean? I don't understand." Mabon called at the triad.

"I believe I can explain that," a cool voice from the entrance spoke out.

Angel saw a handsome youth, with red hair similar to Mabon's, walk in and stand between the cliff and Mabon.

"Harish?" Mabon whispered.

"The council welcomes the honourable Guardian of the Aravalli Sanctuary."

"Thank you," Harish said and looked at Mabon in pure contempt. "The accused came to my sanctuary, seeking for a temporary resting place some time ago. I welcomed him in and for a while all seemed well. That is until I heard of him being thrown out of the Shan Emei Sanctuary and decided to question him about it. I came upon him bathing and saw the markings on his body. At first I thought that the injuries were fresh, but on closer inspection I managed to ascertain that the marking were in fact scars."

At this point some the members from the council were talking to each other again, only to be silenced by a stern look from the triad.

Harish continued, "I proceeded to expel the accused from my sanctuary but he became offensive, claiming that he had not committed any wrongdoing. It is then that I was forced to use violent means to make him leave. I do believe that he still bears the wound on his side."

"Guards, expose the area mentioned."

On command the guards moved to pull down the top half of Mabon's robes. Mabon resisted, but was held in place by one of the guards as the other one unceremoniously tore the robe down. At the sight of Mabon's scarred body, the cavern erupted with gasps and cries of disgust and disbelief.

"Silence!" the man on the right yelled. "Harish, can you point out the wound you caused?"

Harish strolled to where Mabon was standing in a leisurely fashion. Mabon hid his face behind his hair and wrapped his arms around himself. Harish nudged his head at the guards and they forced Mabon's arms behind his back.

Angel grimaced in sympathy as Mabon fought against the guards' grip. He could see tears welling up in Mabon's eyes, spilling out in two clear streams down his cheeks.

Harish then pointed at a long scar on Mabon's left side. "That is the one. One can only guess where he got the rest."

"The council thanks the honourable Guardian, you are excused."

"You're quite welcome. It is a pleasure to do my duty onto the council." Harish bowed and headed for the entrance.

"Harish! Wait!" Mabon took a step to follow Harish and was promptly held back by his guards.

"The council is deeply troubled by what it has seen. The mere fact that you would attempt to deceive a guardian and then claim innocence is a crime in itself. But that your body bears such imperfection presses us to enforce the most severe punishment."

Mabon fell to his knees. "Please, I cannot help the way I am. I will keep them covered, I swear."

"We are afraid that that will not suffice."

"I'll do anything!"

"There is nothing that you can do to change things, accept your fate."

"Why would you punish me for something that isn't my fault?"

"By existing you bring shame upon your own kind. We would not wish to be associated with someone like you." The man on the left narrowed his eyes.

"What about acceptance, is it just a word for you? Don't I have a right to proof to you that I am innocent?"

"You have been given a chance for a defender, but even your own birthgiver did not wish to speak on your behalf. She even denied her connection to you," the woman said, the slightest sign of empathy on her face.

"The course of action is clear." The man on the right turned to his companions. "We cannot allow an anomaly such as you to coexist among us."

"You are hereby exiled and forbidden to ever enter a Sanctuary again," the man on the left spoke.

"No, please!"

"Silence! If you persist, we will be forced to further your pains." The woman shouted down.

The sentence was met by enthusiastic shouts from the crowd. The guards picked up Mabon's prone form. He hung limply in their hands, all life having disappeared from his features.

- - - - - - - -

Angel opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Mabon staring at him. For a second Angel sought to find something to say, but Mabon spoke sooner.

"Now you know what I've faced." Mabon walked back to his bed and flopped down onto it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"You needn't to apologise. If anything I should be the one doing that, for not telling you about it."

Angel stood up. "Look, I can understand why you wouldn't like to talk about something like that."

"You're being kind. But I fear that I've become a burden to you." Mabon looked to Angel. "You all have so much to do, I have no right to take up your time and concern. A part of me wants to merely thank you and leave, but another part tells me I should stay."

"Well, I don't think you're a burden and you're welcomed to stay here."

"For a vampire you are very humane." Mabon smiled.

"Comes with the soul. I won't mention this to the others, okay?"

"I would appreciate that. I can't show it to them and I doubt I could deal with the questions. But I will have to tell sooner or later."

"If you want, I can help you out with it."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Will you be alright, you look kind of tired?"

"I feel tired. I'll just rest for a while."

"Good idea. See you around." Angel left the room and went straight downstairs.

Once in the lobby Angel bent down behind the reception desk and picked up the iron box. The sun was too high for him to head outside, but there was a large boiler in the cellar that would dispose of the box in due time.