One Last Time
Notes/Summary: Written for the Angel Ficathon Two. Requirements will be posted at the end of the story. It's been a few months since the end of Not Fade Away. Angel's in New York, helping Faith out with his blue shadow, Illyria. Something's rising and it can only lead to…goodness? I seriously doubt that. And this fic is none pairing, on Angel's part at least.
Chapter One: New York, New York
"Sometimes, I question my own sanity."
"Only sometimes? I thought this was just the tip of the ice berg for you."
"Yeah, well, you killed the dragon. Didn't I say that I wanted to kill the dragon?"
"That you did. Partly why I did it."
"Ass."
"Poof."
"Could you two stop the yapping, and get back to the hacking before I pass out?"
Angel thinks about that moment a lot. There's no real reason behind it. It's just one moment of witty dialogue among thousands; many that he's remembering stem from the war. But there's just something about that moment that makes everything seem like it came full circle. He spent all that time…worrying, wondering. Doubting in his redemption, what he fought for. Even now, he's not thinking about redemption. The fight never ends, and this is only proof. Even if the Powers That Be thought he deserved to have a beating heart and a chance at a second life, he wouldn't be able to leave. It's in him now. The fight. And he continues to fight because of something he told everyone else.
He's going to make their deaths matter.
"After we are finished here, I want to provide Wesley with a proper burial-one a warrior deserves."
"Don't think we'll be finished anytime soon, though."
"Where's Gunn?"
"He's-Gunn? Gunn!"
Funny how only a moment later, everything changed. Gunn was missing. That was some kind of given. Demons kept coming, and Illyria kept killing. She watched their backs as Spike and Angel searched to at least find their friend's dead body. That would be a kind of reassurance. One they needed desperately at that moment. Now, it seems a bit trivial. They should've known he'd die, lost in the sea of bodies from battle. Only then, when it had been real and just happening, it wasn't a great feeling.
"He is lost, and we must go."
"I can't. Not without him."
"Angel, think here. The only thing you're going to get out of searching this alley in the middle of a war is yourself as a pile of dust. Got that?"
"I am thinking, Spike."
"Act like it then. Right now's not the time to go chasing ghosts, Peaches."
He left. He tried to tell himself logically as they fought their way out of the alley, because all they needed at the moment was to get out, that he'd come back, find Gunn. And he did. Days later, when the demons had been called back, the only proof that the Powers cared was that the demons couldn't leave the alley, and the three searched. He couldn't be found.
"Well, damn. Almost thought ya'll forgot about lil' old me."
Mainly because he didn't need to be found.
"Gunn?"
"That is not Gunn. A demon now inhabits his form."
The worst moment Angel had since finding out that Wesley was dead? Finding out less than three days later that Gunn was a vampire. As much as he hadn't wanted to believe Illyria, there it was in black and white. Feral yellow eyes glared at them, and he was wearing a toothy grin, showing off the new canines.
Amazingly, Spike stepped up first, pulling out a stake.
"Guess this is the end of the road."
"For who? You, or me?"
"Maybe the both of us. Who knows?"
Another amazing thing? Angel still wanted to save Gunn. Even if he wasn't there to be saved anymore. Which made it a good thing that Spike decided to deal with Gunn; maybe on some level it occurred to him that now was not the time for Angel to deal with it.
"How about you and me have a go, Charlie?"
"I can dig that. You're going down."
Or maybe he was just being Spike, looking for a fight. Looking for something to bring down. His way of dealing.
"You know the amazing thing, Spike? It's your fault."
"What?"
"You heard me. It's your fault. Don't pay much attention to blood stains, do you?"
The implication set, Gunn took off through the streets of Los Angeles. And then Spike turned to look at him and Illyria. That was when Angel finally came back to the alley, understanding the past few minutes. Gunn had been sired by Spike, unintentionally, but…
"I have to go after him."
"Spike-"
"He's mine to deal with. Angel, get out of Los Angeles. There's nothing left for you here. Me on the other hand? Got a vamp to deal with…kinda feels like old times with Dru and her mistakes."
"Like you?"
"Ha bloody ha."
Spike left then. He paused at the end of the alley, closed his eyes and stretching his senses, before taking a left turn and speeding down the street.
Funny how, for once, Spike was right. There was nothing left for Angel in Los Angeles anymore. Maybe that's why Angel came all the way to New York. Maybe that was why he, Illyria and Faith did the dirty work Giles didn't want his Slayers involved in. As their experts.
Angel stands from his seat by his desk. They even gave him a neat little office. Not as great as Wolfram and Hart, what with the being highly expensive, but good enough. Faith accused him of using it to brood, and Illyria was kind of handy with research, science, and the technicalities of magic. It was almost like Los Angeles. Almost like Angel Investigations. Almost like having Cordelia, Doyle and Wesley. Almost.
-
It's just my luck that the day after Wood and I call it quits, Giles wants to talk shop in a conference meeting. Great joy that Giles is in New York.
Any toddler can catch the tension and anger that rolls off Faith in waves. It's like second skin, and she's been wearing it for a long time, except for when she's around Illyria, Angel, or both. The occasional calls from Spike as he travels to find Gunn is a blessing also, especially when they interrupt a potentially hairy argument with Wood.
Truthfully, she's counting down the hours until Giles hops on that plane at John F. Kennedy and returns to the good old mother country across the pond. All this New Council/Slayer stuff is getting old really quick and Faith just wants to have fun. She wants to patrol, like Sunnydale. She wants a new Big Bad every week, one that isn't paperwork on a new Slayer.
She pushes the door open to the New York Headquarters. It's nice and everything, but completely not her style. Next, they'd start expecting her to dress conservatively and get formal with the Slayers. She can't even stand half the "I'm a Slayer, I can kick your ass" girls this place crawls with. Well, that is unless they're from Sunnydale's match up against the First. Which doesn't happen to be a lot of the girls.
"Faith! Mr. Wood and Mr. Giles are waiting for you with the others calling in." Wood's secretary calls out as Faith reaches the desk.
"Thanks, May." Faith likes May. May doesn't think Faith should be Miss Lehane, which is always a good sign in Faith's book. The last thing she needs is for someone to call her that, acting like she's superior, like she has some kind of authority.
"What's shakin'?" She calls out, grinning from ear to ear as she enters the conference room. Instantly she can tell that Wood's uncomfortable with her presence and she guesses it might hurt a bit that they didn't work out.
"Faith. Now we can begin." Giles sits down and presses the speaker button.
"Here's the basic run down, Giles," Willow starts. "Dawn went out on a date-with Andrew, but I digress-and they never came back home. First, Buffy wanted a locator spell on Andrew, because she wanted to kill him. And we found him alright."
"Lemme guess…he wasn't really able to tell you where Dawn is." Faith says.
"He won't really be telling anyone anything anymore, actually." Willow replies. "He's kinda dead. B-but there was a symbol on his forehead. Buffy told me that before Sunnydale, Dawn had a diary this woman at her mom's gallery had given Dawn."
"The symbol was on the book?" Giles asks.
"Bingo. So, we look up the symbol-nothing. The coven is researching in England. But the reason I asked Faith to come, even if she's leaving the Council, was to get Angel and Illyria to help. Maybe even Spike."
Should've known there was a catch.
"I dunno 'bout that, Willow. Angel hasn't really felt in the giving mood with Buffy for the past five months."
"Faith, this isn't about Buffy and Angel's issues. It's about Dawn."
"Not making any promises, but we'll talk." Faith pushes her chair back and stands. "I'm gonna clean out my office. Have a nice flight, Giles."
"It was nice to see you, Faith." Giles says as she makes her exit.
"Same here, G-man." Faith calls him that in this instant, when she's not sure if she ever has before, because she's fond of Giles. Maybe before she thought he couldn't see past his Buffy-shaped haze, but she's grown a bit. He might have cared for her the same if she hadn't gone off the deep end.
And here we are, thinking about Wesley. You…kind of made your peace. Let it go.
But she can't. Because she knows they hadn't really. The entire hubbub going on with Angelus made it impossible.
She goes to her office, which she really hates right now, and asks May to bring a box. In no time, May arrives and she thanks the secretary and puts her belongings in the box. Kind of impersonal; the one box isn't even full.
She calls out to May, "Have fun, May." And then she leaves the New York Headquarters of the New Council for what she hopes is the last time in her life.
-
Illyria stands before the straight line of Slayers before her. It almost feels as if she has an army, ready to follow her into a battle for their lives, in her honor. She knows she should stop having these thoughts, as she has reduced herself to fighting alongside Angel and other allies for good in Wesley's honor, but at times she cannot help thoughts such as these. They were a semblance of normalcy.
"One hundred push ups," Illyria says, only to receive groans from half of the teenagers. Faith awlways tells her that discipline is in order when they make the unwanted noises and she decides to increase the work out. "Make it two."
The girls learn their lesson, not making a sound as they drop to their knees and begin to use their arms, pushing themselves up and counting for her benefit. "One, two, three…"
Fighting with the Slayers often reminds her of fighting Spike. They make the same noises but Angel tells her to try to not break them in half. It's not like it's Spike, so she shouldn't want to hit them or anything. She's only supposed to do this for practice.
"Lyrie, we're gonna blow this joint." Faith appears in the doorway. The training facilities are separate from the main building. "I just called Angel. Told him our newest case. Our last case."
Illyria turns from Faith to the girls. "You are relieved." She then follows the brunette slayer out the room as the girls let go of their front and fall in tired heaps after the one hundred twenty ninth push up.
"What is the case?"
"Dawn. She's missing and her…boyfriend…was found dead. Giles just gave me a ring. Willow's hacking skills got us a lead. Her passport was used to catch a plane to JFK." Faith says in explanation.
"Dawn. Buffy's sister, Dawn?"
"Yep."
"And Angel agreed to help find her?" Illyria asks as they reach the main hall. A bell rings and they have to move through the hall filled with teenaged girls.
"He said it's about Dawn, not Buffy. I'm kinda inclined to agree. I just have to call Spike, see if he's willing to take a break on his vamp hunt."
"I don't actually think that'll be happening. Spike's in Australia." Angel says as he crosses the path from the main building, a box in hand. "He's already on a break, helping out against a set of vampires trying to take over a town. Problem is Gunn's in with the pack."
"So then he isn't really taking a break. They're just in his way." Faith responds.
"Something like that." Angel replies. "Explain this thing with Dawn a little more."
"Andrew the boyfriend-as weird as that sounds-is dead. There was a symbol. B recognized it. Linked it to Dawn. Dawn's M.I.A. Passport leads her to New York. Locator spell can't find her. Our mission, if we choose to accept it-find out where Dawnie got taken 'cause we all know she ran into trouble."
"Oh. And here I was thinking it'd be hard."
-
There's something that could be said about her current situation, like maybe, "Old habits die hard." Or you can say, "Once a key, always a key." Just for laughs, it can be, "You can take the girl away from trouble, but you can't keep the trouble from following." Willow would probably say that.
Dawn's in a cage. Can you believe that? Whoever the pricks were that snatched her up decided that putting her in a cage was a good option. Can we please step into this century? They could have at least locked her in a room.
A sob racks her body as she remembers how it all happened. She and Andrew had just left one of those clubs where, oddly, he had connections to get them past security with no hassle, when they showed out of nowhere.
He tried, he really did. He wanted to protect her, keep her safe. But then they beat him down, grabbed her and she had to watch as one of them bit him, drained him, and another carved a symbol she still remembered on his forehead.
And then everything went dark.
She thinks Buffy probably wanted to kill Andrew before they found his body. She thinks, hopes that now she's worried about finding Dawn, keeping her safe. She hopes that Buffy will do any and everything to find her.
Plus, she really wants out of this cage.