All I own is Carma, and I'm so so so sorry it's been this long, I just got caught up in school stuff and everything else, sorry.
"EEEwwww! That's disgusting!"
One of the potentials, a blonde haired, blue eyed Southern Belle (who matched the stereotype image perfectly), squealed in disgust as she did a weird little hop over to the flaming bonfire with a severed arm held gingerly in he fingers of one hand.
After the battle had ended and everyone turned to the task of clearing up, Giles had decided that they might as well build a bonfire to get rid of all the Bringer remnants (and various bits of broken furniture) instead of just burying them, Sunnydale was basically empty now anyway so it wasn't as though anyone would really notice. As Sarah (another potential) had pointed out while building the fire, there was something very dispiriting about digging a grave for the enemy troops.
While Giles was supervising cleanup with the majority of the girls helping out, Xander had grabbed a smaller group to help board up windows, reattach doors and patch up floors. That accounted for everyone except Willow, Dawn and two other girls. The red-headed witch had hustled her little band off to research the power of the Triumvirate, and what kind of magic made up that web they'd used.
Buffy was standing off in a corner, glaring at anyone who tried to talk to her, Xander had tried and returned to the main group with pinched lips and murder in his eyes, and when Giles asked what she'd said, he'd mumbled something indecipherable and hurried over to his repair crew. After that everyone had left her alone. Spike and the second Carma had disappeared as well, Giles had seen them wandering into the back garden and, against Xander's advice, had decided to leave them there. If these vampires were truly going to help then they would have to sort their issues out. Besides, not that he would ever admit this to anyone, but he had grown vaguely fond of Spike, if only because it was a nice feeling to have another Englishman around in the midst of all these bloody Americans.
If he was perfectly honest with himself Giles might admit that he was actually glad Buffy was staying out of the way. He had been…disturbed…at her reaction to Colin, and Carma come to that. He would be the first to admit that he was uncomfortable with all these vampires, if that was a strong enough word. He didn't like having Angel around after what he'd done to Jenny, and having the original Angelus around seemed exceptionally dangerous considering the number of girls they had around, and that's not counting the fact that they were future slayers. And obviously that concern carried over to William and Carma, he'd read a little about the Triumvirate once, years ago, but he did remember the tales of slaughter that followed in their wake, but Buffy's reaction to the female vampire had seemed more like a jealous girl than a responsible slayer, or even a mature woman. And the callousness she had directed at Colin, not even considering giving him a second chance, despite the chances she had given Willow and Angel and Spike, all of whom had killed at least once, and tried to end the world, had been most unlike the Buffy he thought he knew.
The Watcher alternated his gaze between the sullen slayer and the squealing Southern potential, who was now surrounded by other girls who were either giggling and helping her or laughing and making fun of her. Bella was one of several girls who were completely unsuited for this kind of life, even more so than Buffy had been. Watching them made a little bit of his heart wrinkle and fade, though he had had doubts about Buffy he had been able to see the fire and steel in her, but Bella and those like her just didn't belong in this fight.
In the back garden, which was miraculously unscathed compared to the front, Carma and Spike had deposited themselves against the fence; far enough away from each other that Carma felt comfortable, close enough that Spike could believe that this was actually happening.
They'd been listening to the sounds from the front of the house for a while, but they hadn't said anything to each other. The silence was thick, deafening, and extremely uncomfortable. Spike didn't really want to say anything, knowing that however tactful it sounded in his head it would come out the exact opposite, and probably make her give him another black eye.
"What did you mean when you said you hadn't drunk human blood for ages?"
Bloody hell! Should have just kept his mouth shut and waited for her to talk. Her face got even paler, and her features pinched with fury, but she didn't let fly like she always used to at an insensitive question (and that was one alteration he could live with).
"I presume you remember the bonds between the Triumvirate that linked us together, so we could hear each other think and feel what each other felt."
Ouch. That wasn't a joke; she really did think he'd forgotten. He would have corrected her on that, strenuously, but she carried on before he could.
"Well when Angel left do you remember we both felt something happen to him, when the gypsies gave him his soul, and that something changed in us.
Anyway, when you left…with Drusilla…looking after her blocked everything else out, me and him, including that change. But nothing happened to me…it was a bit of our souls coming back, not everything but through the connection a part of the curse reflected on us. So I felt it, not much, but enough…and then I couldn't find either of you to talk to. I didn't drink as much from humans after that. But you're the one that put me off the stuff altogether. Unlike some people I remembered the Triumvirate, and I still felt the two of you, even if it was only one way. So when you asked for your soul back, it came through to me in full, I think that was because it wasn't a curse, if it had been unwilling only a bit more would have come through. But I got the full deal, just like you two."
Huh. He wasn't expecting that. Wasn't entirelysure what he was expecting. But it wasn't that. Spike, the fearsome William the Bloody, opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish several times before settling on a wonderfully succinct "sorry", as his response. He didn't even hear the mumbled 'of course you are'. Angel had been cursed with his soul, it had been a punishment, he had asked for his soul back, but she hadn't done anything. She shouldn't have had to go through that pain…that unimaginable, heartbreaking pain, coupled with the voices of every meal…not alone for no reason. He wasn't going to pretend he was sorry she had her soul; he could have lived with her feeding on humans if he had to, she was worth anything, and Angel could have coped too, but the way it had been returned to her…bloody fucking hell! And the worst thing, it was still all Angelus's bloody fault, it was always his fault, all the way down the bloody fucking centuries everything was always his fault!
The Angel Investigations gang had set up camp in another garden further down the road; Angel had been seated on a lawn chair, surrounded by Cordelia, Lorne, Fred, Gunn and Wesley, Faith and Connor where off on the fringes. On the edge seemed to be their permanent home these days, but at least it wasn't in the psychotic way this time, and they just worked on the principle that at least they weren't alone anymore.
The scene had been set up as a proper inquisition. Cordelia had realised the value of height and shoved Angel on the chair while all the others towered over and around him. For a big, bad vampire, the terror of the LA underworld, he seemed very nervous all of a sudden. There had been lots of breaks and hitches in his story, he'd frequently broken eye contact and spent a few minutes telling his story to the grass and his shoes.
"Let me get this straight. When you were a vampire you turned Spike and this Carma girl, the three of you had seriously dysfunctional parental slash sibling relationship that resulted in the Triumvirate, one of the most powerful forces ever! Then you got a soul and everything went to hell and you all split up and didn't think you'd see each other again, until now."
It was quite disturbing to be on the end of Cordelia's look, but somehow Angel managed to look her in the eye, and confirm that yes, that was a very simplistic description of events.
The group had spent the last twenty minutes listening to Angel tell his story (or bullying him into telling it, however you wanted to look at it), Wesley had been oohing and aahing over his mentions of the Triumvirate, a power that wasn't described clearly anywhere, even in the Watchers diaries, Fred and Lorne had been getting teary-eyed over his mentions of infinite love (until he went and ruined it, then they got mad at him and took Carma and William's side). Cordelia and Gunn had been the ones pushing him to complete the story, they were the ones who were…angry was the wrong word, but it was something like that. Cordy felt it because she considered herself and Angel close friends, she was the one who'd been with him the entire time in LA, and she'd known him in Sunnydale, she understood that this was hard but he could have at least mentioned it! What about all they went through with Darla, he could have brought it up but no! Gunn was mad simply because…well…he wasn't exactly sure, but he'd got used to Angel being Angel, he accepted the existence of Angelus, it was hard not to all things considered. But these other two, and the Triumvirate, that was a whole other league, he'd flicked through something about the Triumvirate once while he was waiting for Wesley at his place. There wasn't much, according to Wes, who apparently had made it a hobby over the years, not much had ever been known about them, but what was known wasn't all happiness and light, and he had a very bad feeling about what was to come after this. Gunn had seen the looks Angelus and William had sent towards Angel, no way they were gonna let things stay the same, not if they had any choice in the matter, not if he was any judge of character (which he was).
Faith and Connor had split off a little way after hearing the bulk of Angel's story, leaving the others to wrangle the unimportant details between them.
"What's the matter with you? We've got what'll probably end up being the fight of out lives on our hands and you're looking depressed."
On a scale of one to ten it was about a two in effectively cheering him up. But the fact that she was trying made the boy smile a bit, not much though. They were leaning against the wall of the house, shoulders touching, almost leaning on each other for support in this very unfriendly environment.
"I'm being stupid."
His words were clipped, punctuated by a backwards kick on the well. Faith however seemed to take it all in stride.
"Probably. But everyone's entitled to be stupid at least once a day, or so my therapist told me." Again she got a small smile.
"I just go used to him being him," there was no need to ask who 'him' was, "then this happens and then Angelus is here as well and I always though they were the same, then I started thinking they weren't, and at first they weren't but then he threw Buffy across a room so maybe he is and there's three of them and that's just a weird thing to picture about your father and there's so much and I can't cope!"
"Wow. All in one breath."
That was all the response Faith gave, except for shuffling a bit closer to Connor, a feeling of human comfort.
"Just let it go Connor, all of it, I know everything about your life so far has been fucked up, but if you don't let if go it'll eat you inside and then you'll never move on from it. My childhood may not have been as fucked as yours, but I held onto and look where it got me."
Connor lifted the corner of his mouth in what could have been construed as a smile, and made a noise that could have been agreement.
"After this," he took a deep breath, nervous about what he was going to say, "what if the two of us went travelling, get away from all of this screwed up stuff in LA, and here."
"Alright," a brief grin at him as neither were entirely comfortable with whatever it was they were feeling right now, "but lets get out of this mess alive first."
Connor grinned, nervousness gone, agitation over his father pushed to the back of his mind, for the moment, "Deal."
I am so sorry, really, I've had this chapter on the go for ages but there was school stuff and revision and exams and a load of other stuff and I'm so so sorry!
Scary Vampiress: glad you like it, hope you like this one too. Sorry it's been so long, things just got a bit out of hand, and I had a bit of writer's block as well and so I couldn't think of what to write in the spare time I had.
SpikingJennsAngel: sorry it's been so long, hope you like this chapter.
Vdarkangel88: hope you like this chapeter, sorry it's taken so long.
Vuzznut: sorry it's been so long, hope you like this chapter too.
Please review everyone, and I will update sooner this time, honest.
