Another Down

[not_the_shell]

The words the half-breed had spoken still swam within my ears along with those of The Shell and Wesley. All of them, turning, betraying me. Had they forgotten so quickly my stance at the Great Battle as the Heavens themselves opened up for us? Had Wesley's last memory as his life faded in my arms been destroyed

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[dis_harmony]

I am sooooooo going to kill Spike. Kill him dead, so that he is...dead. Again. And not in a 'I wasn't really alive till Morticia woke me up by sucking me almost dry', or a 'I died saving the world with my scuzzy Slayer girlfriend and now I am a bloody ghost whine blah whine' kind of way. No, the painful permanent dusty kind. At least I think it is painful, the poofing part I mean. As it hasn't actually happened to me, I am not really so sure. But the one time I got close (again, thank you Spikey) it really, really HURT.

So, like I said...dead!

He thinks he is so funny. Ha ha ha funny. Let's make fun of Harm and run off and leave her again funny. Let's promise her a suite and send her to Angel's room funny. Let's make her want....well, you get the idea. As it was I got sucked into standing outside Angel's suite and listening to the boring people blab on about boring like things for 10 minutes, because I just couldn't seem to walk away. It was some kind of pit of patheticness I couldn't get out of.

Well, whatever Spikey. I am gonna show you. I am gonna go get my stuff, and move in for good. If anything, just because I know you won't like it. I won't like it either. But if it pisses you off?

WORTH IT!

I stomped down the stairs, out of the hotel, and into the garden without looking back. Well, only once or twice. Cut a newly human girl some slack.

I was so busy not looking, I nearly ran into Illyria.

"Pathetic human bodies, so weak that a mere touch of someone great could destroy you...."

My eyes darted from her, to Gunn's body, and up to Illyria again. He was obviously dead.

"There is no way you guys are pinning this on me!!!"

[not_the_shell]

"There is no way you guys are pinning this on me!!!"

My head turned slowly as I placed my hands upon my thighs, letting them rest there until my body was in an upright position.

"Harmony."

Apparently another of us who had made it through the Great Battle, although from speaking with the vampire, she had become a traitor to our cause and..

"You are mortal."

I stepped closer to her, the air around her choking me. At least when she had been a half-breed, she had been bearable, tolerable. But now? Like this? Unimpressive.

"He was dead when I found him," I intoned. "His body merely a bag of bones decaying upon the worm-filled earth. It should be removed and destroyed at once." I paused as I recalled her first words.

"You think I would claim you as his murderer?" A small semblance of a smile crept across my features. "You give yourself far too much credit. His neck was snapped like a twig beneath one's foot! Only one of true power could have done such an act."

Her eyes watched me strangely...

[dis_harmony]

"Harmony. You are mortal."

"Duh," I breathed out, my eyes still on Gunn's body. "We already went over this once. More than that actually. I am suprised that Spike didn't run and tell everyone. Can you just look at me with those strange contacts of yours and tell all on your own?"

So not impressed.

Illyria didn't look any happier to see me than Spike and Cordy had earlier, but I didn't let it get to me. Nobody liked her, so what did her opinion matter. That might mean that somehow I was letting Spike's mattering matter, only....

I am confused.

"He was dead when I found him. His body merely a bag of bones decaying upon the worm-filled earth. It should be removed and destroyed at once."

"Not by me," I took a few steps. "Cause dead bodies? I had forgotten how creepy they are when they aren't food."

"You think I would claim you as his murderer? You give yourself far too much credit. His neck was snapped like a twig beneath one's foot! Only one of true power could have done such an act."

I sighed and brushed a stray hair away from my eyes as I faced down Illyria. How stupid did this super power think I was?

"If you want to take credit for it, just do it!! You are like all those nerds in high school, who went around complaining about how not-smart they were, just so the teachers would tell them how smart they were for real, and I just thought it was all -- really dumb."

I looked down at Gunn again, then up towards the hotel doors as something struck me.

"Ohhhh. You are gonna be in soooooooo much trouble."

I thought about that for a minute.

"Why did ya do it anyways?"

[not_the_shell]

"I am suprised that Spike didn't run and tell everyone. Can you just look at me with those strange contacts of yours and tell all on your own?"

I stepped closer to her, eyes roving her body and wishing she were at least a half-breed again. Then, she was somewhat palpable at least. Yet Spike? He knew and said nothing to me about her return. Had I lost yet another supposed-comrade?

"Ohhhh. You are gonna be in soooooooo much trouble."

"With the vampire? With Wesley? They would seek to destroy me nonetheless, I cannot fathom how the death of Gunn would change matters in the slightest."

She was trying my patience, and if I had my powers at hand still, she would have joined Gunn in death shortly after speaking to me without permission.

"Why did ya do it anyways?"

I bent over the lifeless form of what once was the mortal Gunn and touched the skin. Coldness seeped through and carressed me as I regarded her words carefully.

"I did nothing, save rescuing him from the pitiful monster he felt compelled to have torture him for the death of Winifred Burkle." Was that the answer she was seeking to pry from me? I stood once more, away from the newest shell to grace us, and eyed the ex-vampire.

"He did deserve death, however, for his mistreatment of me."

[dis_harmony]

"With the vampire? With Wesley? They would seek to destroy me nonetheless, I cannot fathom how the death of Gunn would change matters in the slightest."

"Wow," I replied, totally shocked by her words. "You may be in Fred's body, but you so didn't get her smarts if that is what you think. They are gonna be really, really upset. Gunn is their friend."

I looked down at the body again.

"Or he was, till you killed him."

"I did nothing, save rescuing him from the pitiful monster he felt compelled to have torture him for the death of Winifred Burkle."

"Oh!!!" I clapped my hands in excitment and grinned at Illyria. "That was great!!! If you practice just a little bit more, they might actually believe you!!!"

"He did deserve death, however, for his mistreatment of me."

My face fell some at her words.

"Okay, just a little tip from me to you? I would leave that part out of your final performance. It sort of hurts your cause. That is like...motive"

See...you could learn all sorts of things from law and Order reruns. Besides the fact that Chris Noth was yummy.

[not_the_shell]

"They are gonna be really, really upset. Gunn is their friend. Or he was, till you killed him."

"Did you not understand the words spoken to you, mortal?" I stepped closer to her, anger flaring within me and I embraced the emotion with every fiber of my being. "My hands were not the ones to pull the life-force from that decaying, rotting body." I took another step closer. "I wish they had been, for then my life would have some sense of justice to it!"

Another step.

"Believe me when I say it does not pain me in the slightest that worms are now eating their way through his eye sockets, crawling within his skin as his flesh melts into the earth!"

I realized at once who I was speaking to, and shoved her out of my way as I strode inside.

"You annoy me. Begone."

There were others who would know of Gunn's death, and yet...did it truly matter? For perhaps what the ex-vampire had said was true. They were planning my murder already...this would be yet another reason for my death.

If I was not the one to destroy his life, then who would wish me death...?

"Wesley," I said with a sneer as I stepped in towards my destiny.