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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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1,359
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1/1
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Forever No More

Summary:

When is it too much?

Work Text:

Forever No More
By Lopaka Tanu

 

Picking her way through the rubble that had been the Hyperion, Faith tried not to imagine the battle that had happened there. An epic fight she hadn't been a part of wasn't a pleasant thought to behold. Being one of only two true slayers in the world, she should have been here when it went down. As it was, she came when she got wind of what was happening, too late it seemed, though.

As far as she could see in the night, aided by the light of fires, there lay nothing but devastation. Part of her reveled in the glory of it all, no matter who had lain waste to it. The sheer awesome scale of destruction was something to savor for one such as her. Very few knew the satisfaction of a good fight, and this one had been one hell of a brawl.

Her boots cracking over something decidedly not of this dimension, she smirked and ground her heel in to it. It was dead, and thus, the loser of this fight. After a quick glance, she moved on. This dead demon wasn't what she was searching for.

Casting her gaze about, Faith took in the full spectrum of bodies and parts that lay about her feet. For the most part, they were relatively whole, making them easier to identify. Every where she looked were all demonoids in appearance, no human looking. That spelled good news for the good guys, but if Angel had fallen, there wouldn't be much left. And there was plenty enough ash to disguise the remains of a vampire.

It was movement over to her left that drew her attention, warning her before her instincts could. Spinning to defend herself against whatever it was, she dropped in to a fighting stance. Blade at the ready, she tried to make out whatever it was that now moved beyond her field of vision. The dim light of the fires only gave a vague shape, letting her know it wasn't very tall. Still, it had to be powerful because her internal senses, when they worked, were sending a flood of adrenalin through her system. It was powerful enough to mask itself, but damaged, possibly by the battle.

Smirking, Faith raised the sword tip. "Come out, I promise to make it quick."

"You are unfamiliar, but annoyingly threatening. If I was feeling better, I would merely crush you and move on." Then suddenly she was there in front of Faith, holding the slayer's sword arm away from her as if her strength meant nothing. Blue eyes narrowing, she examined Faith from head to toe. "You are not human."

"Give the girl a hand." Kicking out, Faith was only mildly surprised that despite her foot connecting, it had no effect on the blue demon. Frowning, she tried jerking her arm free, but found it stuck. "What the hell are you?"

"Illyria." Cocking her head to the side, she smiled. "Tell me what you are so that I may know what I am killing."

"Stand down, both of you!" Having been awakened by the noise, Angel appeared from between two piles of flaming corpses. "Illyria, let her go. She's no threat to you."

"What if I want to see what it looks like on the inside?" As if already deciding to, she grabbed Faith by the other arm and started to pull them apart.

"Yo, you heard the vampire!" Head butting the demon, Faith found the damned thing had a harder skin than she thought. However, the demon was forced to let her go from the strength of the impact. Squeezing her almost numb hand around the blade of the sword, she brought it up between her and Illyria. It may not make a difference in saving her life, but it was the gesture that counted. "Angel. You had a party and didn't invite me? I'm crushed."

"Not really, but if you wish it to be so, I can arrange it." Raising her hands, Illyria clenched her fingers a couple times.

"So home girl has a twisted sense of humor. I can dig." Despite the admiration she felt for the demon, Faith wasn't stupid enough to let her guard down. No matter how much she trusted Angel, there was no way she was letting that thing near her again. "What's the deal?"

"The senior partners and I had a falling out." Having taken his time walking up to them, Angel caught sight of a sword on the ground stuck in the torso of a demon. Bending down, he snatched it up, using his half bared foot to anchor the torso so he could pull it free. Once he had the sword, he spun it twice to test the weight. "As you can see, they don't like my brand of negotiations."

"Right, bunch of stiff necks." Relaxing a little more, Faith stepped back from the demon and stood up straight. "Any other survivors?"

"I'm not sure about Spike, but the rest are gone. Well, except Illyria here." Coming to a stop beside said demon, Angel rested the tip of the blade on the hand of a dead demon. "What brings you to L.A? I heard your people declared this area off limits. Are you here to check up on me, make sure WolfRam and Hart did their job? You going to finish me off because they didn't?"

"B and her wannabes don't control me." Swirling her own sword in a mocking fashion of what he had done earlier, she raised an eyebrow. "As for taking you out, I only ever got one reason to do that and I don't see that happening."

"Angelus?" Angel smirked when she lowered her eyebrow. "Nice to know some things never change."

"So, is the party over or can a girl still get in on the action?" All serious now, she cast a wary glance over Illyria and the rest of the demons.

"We have triumphed here. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart are no longer a threat. Still, there are always other battles to be fought." Stretching, Illyria cracked the chinks in her exoskeleton until they were all back in place. As she twisted her neck, her face was obscured by her hair. When she pulled it back, a normal looking human woman stared back at the others. "I am leaving now, you may come with me if you wish. Angel."

Angel watched her walk away for a minute before looking back to Faith. "Don't mind her, she's really a sweet person once you get to know her." Snickering, he sobered up quickly as the devastation reached him again. "What are you going to do now?"

"Since this one's over, I'm going else where too." Faith jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the demon. "That one's a major freak out, but I think I can hang with her for a bit. Who knows, might be interesting. You can come with."

"Are you certain about that?" At her nod, he shrugged. "Sounds like fun."

"Cool." Spinning, Faith walked fast to reach Illyria. "Yo, Blue, wait up!"

Taking an unnecessary breath, Angel looked out over the wasteland they had made of Los Angeles. Forever was now in ruins, destiny had fled else where. For the first time in ten years, since he had met Whistler, learned about his supposed destiny, loved all the wrong people, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. There wasn't a great enemy to fight any more. With the help of his friends and people, they had stopped the ancient apocalypse that threatened their....

"Hey, Angel! Get your tight butt in gear!"

Closing his eyes, Angel turned away from it all.

Faith watched him walk towards her and the waiting freaky demon. Broodduha was back and in full force. There was hope for the future after all if he could still find time to do that. Smiling as he reached them, she put her sword in the hilt on her waist. "Let's go find some bad guys to kill."

"Agreed." Taking the lead, Illyria started off again.

 

THE END..............................