Disclaimer: All Buffy or Angel characters were created by Joss Whedon. Not me.
Author's Note: This was a difficult piece to write, as I've been jumping between like 6 or 7 different fandoms and I had a hard time to get into the characters, so it might be a little off. Hope someone is still reading this. It's kinda Rain-centric, but I guess you already figured that out.
Chapter Ten: April Rain
Connor stared at the woman in front of him. ''Come again?''
''She has to die.''
''No.'' He shook his head. Her melodic voice suggesting to kill a little girl seemed just... wrong.
''You have to.'' she said in a hard voice.
''What? Why?'' Boy stood up, not being comfortable with looking up.
''Once Angel finds her, it will be too late.'' Half demon said. She moved to leave, but Connor stepped in her way.
''You're not leaving until you tell the truth. Why does Angel want her?'' He demanded.
Anthis looked him up and down, as if to mock him but nevertheless took few steps back. ''As you wish.'' Connor folded his arms across his chest. ''She's just a girl.''
''She's so much more than just a girl.'' Woman said.
''What do you mean?'' He asked.
She sighed. ''That little girl you're so bent on protecting, is the most dangerous weapon Angel could find.'' She observed Connor's facial expressions. ''When Angel finds her and he will, he's gonna use her to summon his generals and destroy the barrier separating us from the outside.''
''Wait.'' Connor suddenly leaned towards her. ''I thought he was the one who put it in the first place.''
''You're all forgetting that He came here after that. This barrier is supposed to keep him in.'' Anthis explained.
''You said that if the fifth one dies, the barrier appears. Then you ran off to find him. You didn't want the barrier to appear.'' He realized.
''No, I didn't. I thought I would be able to stop Him from entering this dimension. Too late now.'' She shrugged.
''How can this kid have so much power? She's normal.'' Connor argued.
''In the right hands, this child will destroy this world. Angel will do this.'' Anthis said. ''That's why she has to die. He can't get to her.''
''You're asking me to kill a child.'' He said ridiculously. ''To top that, she is supposedly our only way to get out of here. Other than her, is there any way to destroy the barrier?''
She hesitated. ''There is no other way known to me.''
''Great. Just perfect.'' He said in hushed tone. ''You're asking me to stay here for the rest of my life!''
''If it means you'll protect the world.''
Connor laughed. ''Oh, you got the wrong guy here. I'm not a champion. I don't care about the world. I just want to live my life! I think I've proved that enough times in the past.''
''You have no choice.'' she stared him in the eye.
''Actually, yes I do. It's called free will.'' he replied. Anthis looked aside, clearly frustrated. ''Why are you even here?'' Connor wondered. ''You could've just kill her instead of telling me.''
''I can't.''
''Why?''
''She's protected from any supernatural entity, like me and you.'' She confessed. ''Only pure humans are able to kill her. Angel doesn't know that, otherwise the two you have would already be dead.''
''Why only humans? Shouldn't it be the other way around?'' he asked.
''I don't know. I didn't make the rules.''
Connor took a second to collect his thoughts. ''You're asking me to tell them to kill a little girl? Are you freaking insane?''
''Perhaps. But that's the only way.'' Anthis approached him. ''Just remember this. The longer you keep her alive, the more chances are Angel will find her. Can you handle the responsibility of destroying the world?'' She turned on her heel and walked away.
''Why do you even care? It's not your world!'' He called after her. She slowed down for a second, but quickly resumed her pace, her snowy white hair the last thing disappearing in the darkness.
Connor stared ahead of him, at loss of the words.
***B***B***
''So what? We're just supposed to order the girls to gank the kid?'' Spike asked. Connor nodded. He just told him, Gunn and Amy about the visit and what he learned. ''Ain't they just gonna love it.''
''Just telling how it is.''
''How do we even know she's reliable? Can we trust her?'' Vampire wondered. ''You don't know nothing about her.''
''Well, she saved our asses twice. I'd say she's with team us.'' Gunn said.
''Yeah, but... I can't even sense anything off about the girl.'' Spike muttered.
''Can't we just like, shoot her?'' Gunn asked. Three pairs of heads looked at him ridiculously. ''We gotta look at our options here. And they ain't too bright.''
Connor sighed. ''Are we really gonna do this? I know it's the world and all that... But that won't make us any better than them. It's wrong.''
Spike and Gunn exchanged looks. ''For now we're not doing shit, 'cause I don't suppose they'll just jump on the 'let's murder a little girl' wagon.''
''Excuse me?'' Lorne appeared in the lobby. ''Repeat that last part for me, would you?''
''Apparently we have to kill the kid, or Angel will find her and literally burn this earth down. Happy?'' Amy gave him the cliff notes.
''And how do you know that?''
''Connor's demon friend came at night. They had a chat and off she go.'' Gunn said.
Lorne sat down, deep in thought. Or shock. After few minutes Spike spoke. ''Who?''
''Huh?''
''Who do we approach? Rain or Katie?'' he looked at each of them. ''Wait, can't Faith or Amy do it? They ain't demons.''
''No, but they're apparently a little supernatural themselves.'' Connor shook his head. ''There has to be another way.''
''Even if there is, we have no idea where to even begin to look. Demon told you there isn't, you said it yourself.'' Spike replied.
''You're ready to stay trapped here for the rest of your life? Which I imagine will be quite a while.'' Connor said and immediately regretted it.
''What are you talking about?'' Gunn frowned.
Boy looked at the ceiling and back at the group. ''Angel doesn't need her to just bring his army. He needs the girl to destroy the barrier that's surrounding us. She dies and we're stuck in here forever.'' He waited few moments for the information to sink in.
''That... changes the situation a bit.'' Lorne fidgeted.
''You think?''
''C'mon we shouldn't be so pessimistic. If there is one person who can bring it down it's Willow.'' Spike said thriumphantly.
''You do realize you're actually agreeing to waste the girl?'' Horned demon noticed.
''We should do it.'' Gunn voiced his proposition.
''You make it sound so easy.'' Connor said. ''But it won't be you who has to actually do it.''
''Right.'' Spike agreed. ''Still it has to happen somehow. What about, dropping a brick onto her head? Normal accident.''
''You guys are sick.'' Amy spat. ''You're actually talking about murdering a child.'' She shook her head and left. Spike watched her go. ''Connor, Lorne. You with us?''
Lorne just stared at the floor while Connor couldn't stand it and walked around, each of them unable to make the choice. Boy stopped and met Vampire's eyes. He nodded.
''Lorne?''
Demon spoke, still not raising his head. ''If we do this, we have no guarantee we're gonna get out. Lifes of the few for the lifes of the many.''
''Okay.'' Gunn clapped his hands. ''Who wants to tell them?''
''Tell what?''
They turned to see Faith and Katie near the stairs.
***B***B***
Rain watched the sleeping little girl. Sometime during the night she clung to her so tightly, brunette had a really hard time detangling herself after she woke up. She wondered what would they do with her. How she even managed to survive this long. It was just next to impossible, especially for someone like her. She was aware that others probably waited for her to tell them some news, but she couldn't make herself leave the room.
Rain walked around the room, picking up her clothes. Once dressed, she noticed that the girl stared at her fearfully.
''Hey, hey... It's okay, you're safe. I'm not gonna hurt you.'' She slowly approached the girl, with her hands up.
''W-Who are you? Where am I?'' she asked, tiny fists tightly holding the sheets to her chest protectively.
''My name is Rain. We found you yesterday, do you remember that?'' Catiously, she sat on the edge of the bed. Girl slowly nodded her head, the long red locks flying around.
''What's your name?''
Girl let out a long breath. ''April.'' She said in a small voice.
''Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.'' Rain reached her hand and brushed the hair away, looking April in the face. ''You want something to eat, drink maybe?'' Little girl nodded her head. ''Drink.''
Rain looked over the bed. ''We've got some juice. Apple or orange?''
''Apple.'' Brunette took said juice and searched for a glass. She took one, poured the juice into and handed it to April, who drank it quickly. Rain laughed when tiny drops of liquid spilled down girl's cheeks. She grabbed a hanky and cleaned it. ''You want some new clothes, a shower maybe?''
Little girl slowly nodded her head, but made no other move to actually get up. Rain offered her a hand. ''You're safe with me.''
April reached out and grasped Rain's hand.
***B***B***
''No.'' Faith stated. ''Over my dead body.''
She and Katie opposed to the idea of killing the girl. Amy, hearing this, quickly came down and joined them.
''You have to understand, it's our only option.'' Spike tried.
''No, it ain't.'' Slayer said.
''Tell us another, then.'' Gunn waved his arms, frustrated.
''You touch a hair on that girl's head and you're dead. I'm not kidding.''
''What is the big issue here? You don't even know the girl, she can be a demon for all we know.'' Spike argued. ''We should waste her before any of us will get attached.''
Connor and Lorne stayed silent, as they debated their own choices.
''And this will make it better?'' Katie snapped. ''You're talking about taking human's life. Maybe it's not such a big deal for all of you, but I'm supposedly the one who has to do it. I won't.''
Spike lost a little of his coolness. ''Listen-'' he jumped up and towards Katie when Faith stepped in his way. This whole situation was starting to take it's toll on everyone. Gunn seriously considered just taking the girl to Angel, just to get the hell out of this city. Apparently he wasn't the only one, judging by Spike's looks. Truth to be told, it was really depressing. Being trapped in a hotel with only few people, without a chance to get out and a hopeless mission to stop the apocalypse. Which one was that? Fourth, fifth they faced? Weren't getting any easier too.
Vampire and slayer stared at each other before Spike finally gave up.
''What are we supposed to do? We can't hide her forever. We can't move her. Either we kill her or leave her somewhere.'' Spike said.
''We'll figure something out.'' Amy said. Faith just looked at Spike. ''What happened to you, man? You've got a soul, since when you're happy to go kill a girl?''
Spike stared at her incredulously. ''I'm not happy about offing a damn girl.'' he replied. ''It's called survival. Either she dies, or we. Do the math.''
Faith fought with her mind not to listen to him. Something cracked in her yesterday. She actually thought about killing the kid. Would make everyhing easier. ''That's not what Buffy would do. It's an easy solution. She'd find something to keep everybody safe.'' she said instead. Now that's more like it.
Spike stiffened when all eyes rested on him. ''Yeah, well... Buffy's not here.''
''So what? B ain't here to watch over her little pet and you suddenly think you don't need a leash?'' Faith challenged him.
''I'm sayin' that it's not her bloody business how we handle things. Maybe she'd do it differently, we don't know. What we know is that we're on our own.'' Spike said. ''If you find a way to let the girl live, I'm all for it.''
''How about we'll leave it as it is until nightfall?'' Connor suggested. ''That way everyone will have time to consider it and maybe I'll find Anthis.''
''I'm comin' with.'' Faith said. ''Some demon chick won't come to my place and tell me what to do with mine people.''
Gunn opened his mouth as to say something, but stopped. ''We're not actually yours, you know that?'' he asked after third attempt.
Faith shot him a glare.
''Okay, everybody listen...'' said a new voice, Rain's. They turned to see her descending down the stairs with the little girl. ''Say hello to April.'' Girl waved her hand shyly. No one spoke for a minute. Faith cleared her throat and approached the girl, crouching to be on the same eye-level with her. ''Hi April. I'm Faith.'' Little redhead smiled.
''Are you hungry?'' Faith asked and April nodded.
***B***B***
''No.'' This time it was Rain who disagreed. ''You guys are crazy.'' Katie squeezed her arm with relief.
Spike and Gunn exchanged frustrated looks. ''It's the only way.''
''Do not say another word if you don't want me to beat the shit out of you both.'' Brunette said hardly.
Gunn sighed. ''Whatever. Angel comes here and gets her, not my fault.'' He and Spike left, leaving Rain with Katie.
''You do know they actually have a point, right?'' Rain muttered, refusing to make eye contact with the blonde.
''What are you talking about?'' Katie exclaimed, clearly surprised.
''We would save milions of lives.'' Rain kept her voice down. Katie withdrew her hand. ''You're joking. Please tell me you're joking.''
''What do you want me to say?''
''That it's not gonna happen. None of us will harm a girl.'' Blonde cupped Rain's face in her hands. ''Am I right?''
Shorter woman eventually met Katie's eyes. ''Right. You're right.''
''Good.'' She stood up and went to the kitchen to join Faith and April.
Rain watched her go, deep in thought.
***B***B***
''You have any idea where she might be?'' Faith asked when she and Connor moved through the streets. Only two of them because Spike and Gunn didn't want to go and Faith refused to leave them alone, so Amy stayed put.
''Honestly? No.'' Connor said over his shoulder. ''Guess we have to rely on my poor tracking skills.''
Brunette rolled her eyes. ''How could you agree with them? I get Gunn, he doesn't have a soul. Spike does what he believes is the best solution. But you?''
Boy stopped at the crossroad. ''I didn't exactly agree with them. I just... I don't know.'' He kept walking forward. They reached a dead body. Demon with a hole in his head. ''What do you think, bullet or an arrow?''
''Arrow, I'd say.'' Faith said after looking at the wound. ''We must be gettin' close.''
''Not neccessarily. She's scouting the city. God know's where the hell she is.'' Connor sighed.
''So use that nose of yours.'' Slayer turned around to see a zombie walking to them. ''I wondered where they went.'' She walked to it, snapped it's neck and laid the body on the ground, making as little noise as possible. ''I thought they were scarier, when I was little.'' She said while looking at, now, completely lifeless corpse.
''That's just a dead thing, barely moving. Many things are worse.'' Connor commented. They continued their search.
''What did you do the last time she found you?'' Faith asked.
''Well, I... pretty much was about to die everytime she popped out.'' He realized. ''We are so not going to test that theory.''
Brunette looked at him innocently. ''Why not?''
''What if she won't show up?'' Boy turned left.
''We have every reason to believe she will.'' Faith countered.
''No.'' Connor nearly yelled.
''Jeez, relax.'' she shrugged. ''But ya know we can be searchin' pretty much all day? It's big city.''
Connor shook his head. ''I don't think so. She must be close or she wouldn't meet me so many times.''
''...Or she's stalkin' you.''
***B***B***
Rain watched April as she played with her girlfriend. She had no idea what they played, but they seemed quite happy. Carefree, the way she hadn't seen Katie since before this mess happened. Spike walked to over.
''Don't even open your mouth.'' she warned him. ''I don't want to hear it.''
Vampire turned on his heel to walk away, but stopped on a second thought. ''You shouldn't get emotionally attached. Like her.'' he looked at the playing girls. ''It'll only end up causing you more pain.''
Rain ran her hand though her dark hair. ''Why is that?''
''Because she is gonna die either of those bloody ways.'' Spike said, not moving his head an inch. ''If Angel gets to her, he's gonna use the girl to do his dirty and then, once she's not useful anymore, he'll waste her.''
''So?''
''So she ain't gonna do it.'' He looked at Rain. ''You're our last hope.''
Brunette snorted. ''Better find someone else then.'' Vampire left, but the seed of doubt planted in Rain's head earlier began to grow.
***B***B***
''Man, how long we've been out? Time to go back.'' Faith sat down in an alley. Connor threw his hands up, frustrated. ''I can't focus on her. Everytime I pick her up, she disappears few blocks later. She definitely doesn't want to be found.''
''C'mon, it's getting dark soon.''
''So we accomplished nothing. Just wasted all this time.'' Boy shook his head. ''Now we have to go back and tell them 'no, we haven't found her. How about we vote? Those in order to kill April, raise your hand.' Yeah, that'll go well.''
''You don't really want to kill her, do you?'' Faith asked.
''Do you?''
Brunette sighed. ''All this time I've spent to make up for my past... Now I know what is needed to be done, but how can I do that?'' She looked at him. ''There is no Buffy here, no Angel. What am I supposed to do? Turn it off and pretend everything is all good when it isn't?''
''We're not like them.'' Connor said quietly. ''This Buffy, you make her look like some kind of saint. Like she'd never hurt an innocent to protect the world.'' Faith opened her mouth to respond, but Connor beat her to it. ''Maybe she wouldn't. Angel would take that step.'' Connor flashed back to the night when Angel came to kill Cordelia. Wait, Jasmine. She was Jasmine. ''There is not black and white. There are only shades of grey. I get that now. The question is, do you?''
''Sure I do.'' Faith shrugged.
''Really? For so long you've lived in dark, you don't know how light looks like. Yet you desperately want to reach it, but you never can.'' Connor's voice sounded weird to Faith. ''Normal rules, they don't apply here. It's kill or be killed. We gotta do what we gotta do.''
Slayer stared at him, not sure what to say. ''You possessed by some philosophic ghost or what?''
Connor smiled. ''I wish.''
***B***B***
''What are you still waiting for?''
Rain looked up, startled. Her hand immediately reached for the gun she kept at her waist. ''I wouldn't do that if I were you.'' Voice warned her. Brunette saw a figure emerge from one of the rooms. Tall, obviously demon, woman.
''You're her.'' She realized. ''You're the one who keeps popping up on us.''
''That'd be me.'' Anthis said. ''Come on, we need to talk.'' She walked back to the room she came from. Rain followed. ''What would that be? Let me guess, April.''
Demon sat down and looked at Rain quizzicaly.
''The girl.'' she clarified.
''Oh, yes. The girl. Why is she still breathing?'' Anthis asked.
''Probably 'cause no one is willing to do the deed.'' Brunette answered. ''Now that we cleared that up, you can go. By the way, Connor and Faith went to look for you. Should've just stayed home.''
''That child-'' She started but Rain cut her off. ''Is innocent. We're the good guys. We don't just go around and kill children. 'Sides if she's so powerful can't she destroy the barrier on her own? Can't she disappear?''
''She's not aware of her powers.'' Red eyes flared in the half dark room. ''The girl has to die, or we all will. Choice is up to you.'' She stood up and left the room.
''This is bullshit!'' Rain called after her retreating back.
''We have to do whatever it takes to win this.'' Anthis said and jumped out of the window.
Rain stood alone in the hallway, not knowing what to do. She heard quiet, hesitant footsteps coming towards her. ''What's up?''
April approached her. ''Why are you standing alone?''
''I had to think.'' Rain smiled warmly. ''How do you feel?''
''Better. It's safe here.'' Small redhead said.
''I'm glad.'' Woman whispered.
***B***B***
''Anything?'' Gunn asked once Faith and Connor returned.
''Nope.'' Faith said and plopped down on the couch. ''Turns out she's a hard piece to find. How are things going on here?''
''Well, difficult to say. Amy and Lorne disappeared somewhere, Spike's getting something to eat, Rain is with April and Katie's...'' he trailed off when the blonde entered the lobby. ''Here.''
''What did the demon say?'' She looked at them expectantly.
''Nothin'. Haven't found her.'' Faith sighed. ''So what? We vote or somethin'?''
''You're kidding me.'' Katie said. The look Faith sent her was everything but laughable. ''What is it with you people? Since when are you with them?'' She asked Faith accusingly. Slayer had no response to that. ''Doesn't matter anyway. You can't harm her.''
''But you can.'' Connor said quietly.
Katie shook her head. ''I won't. Neither will Rain and you can't make us.''
Blonde left the lobby.
''She's right. We can't really do anything.'' Boy noticed.
''Yeah well, she's not the only human around.'' Spike joined them. ''Maybe her lover will actually do it.''
''What makes you say that?'' Faith raised her head.
''A hunch? There's something about her... My bet is she already killed someone.'' Vampire mused.
***B***B***
Rain got on one knee as she hugged April. She exhaled loudly, confusing the little girl. April reached her hand put and wiped the lone tear that made it's way down Rain's cheek.
''Why are you crying?''
''Wha- I'm not.'' She quickly cleared her face. ''Nah, I'm just happy.''
''Why?''
Brunette stood up. ''You're here, jus' that.'' April smiled, almost lighting up the whole city with it's sincerity and happiness. ''Let's go to my room, huh? What was the game you played with Katie? We can play it.''
April nodded her head and walked down the corridor. After few seconds she realized Rain wasn't following her. She turned around only to see brunette pointing a gun at her. April's heart stopped, fear widening her eyes.
Rain couldn't believe how much the gun shook in her hands. That never happened since... She re-thought her decision as April walked, but then she turned away. She just had to turn away and Rain had no choice. She pulled the trigger, twice. Bullets hit her right in the chest, their impact shaking whole body of April. She didn't scream. One second she was standing there and the next Rain watched her body hit the floor, already dead. Brunette stood over the corpse, frozen.
''What'd you do?'' A voice screamed and she was pushed away. Rain fell on her shoulder and crawled away, mouth agape, breathing hardly. Gun laid on the floor, forgotten. ''What did you do?'' Katie yelled, looking back and forth between April's body and Rain, who had a panicked look on her face. Blonde got on the floor next to April, but she could tell it was too late.
Her yells alerted the rest, who ran to them stumbling through the corridors. They all froze, looking at the scene before them.
Katie paid them no attention as she grabbed Rain by her shirt and shook her. ''Why'd you do it? Why?''
''I saved us.'' Was her short, shaky answer.
Blonde looked at her, betrayed. Then she raised her hand and slapped Rain across the face, hard. Immediately she covered her mouth as if she couldn't believe she just did that. Rain absently touched the angry, red mark that now decorated her cheek. She reached her arm to touch Katie, but she furiously rejected her.
''Get the fuck away from me!'' She exploded. ''Don't touch me!'' Brunette slowly let her hand fall down. ''How could you?'' Katie said with as much venom in her voice as she could possibly gather. When she received no answer, blonde quickly ran down the corridor, leaving the scene.
Silence came over them, as no one dared to speak. They just watched Rain, who was still on the floor.
''Well, there's no point in arguing anymore...'' Spike said, looking at Amy. ''Unless you can fix that.''
***B***B***
You thought I would kill her from the start? I'd like to know that. One way to let me know - review!