Fic: No One Gets Out of Here Alive (Except)
Title: No One Gets Out of Here Alive (Except)
Rating: PG
Words/Status: 457, complete
Genre: Angst; episode coda
Warnings: Spoilers for season finale of Angel. Which apparently might still be necessary.
Pairing/Characters: Lorne, Lindsey.
Notes: Kate had issues. So I played Kripk'd her Joss'd scene.
Angel's convinced Lindsey's got to go. The boy's just itching for a fight. He won't ever stop. And when they're all gone, Lindsey will keep fighting Wolfram & Hart and they'll use it to reel him in. Lindsey is both too good and too corrupt to be left to his own devices.
The others don't say a word. They're all in on this mad plan of Angel's. Lorne can hear it in their voices. Everything they say comes out like a lament. They don't have to sing; Lorne can practically write their requiem mass. Every time the others speak, Lorne's hit with the overwhelming knowledge that he's going to lose them. They're already gone.
But Lorne has heard Lindsey sing too. Lately it's been wafting through the vents at night. There's still good burning inside the man but Lorne can sense the evil winning. The weird fixation on Angel is the root of it. The need to be Angel's nemesis. Such a difference from the confused soul that used to sing at Caritas all those years ago.
So Lorne volunteers to be the one to take Lindsey out. He can't save his friends. Maybe he can save Lindsey. Make it all worth something. 3 years have meaning. Save SOMEONE from Wolfram & Hart. He doesn't trust Angel anymore. Can't believe as he once did. "I'll do this last thing for you, for us, but then I'm out."
Angel looks like he wants to say something, to repair the damage, but realizes there's nothing to say.
***
"One last job. You're not part of the solution, Lindsey. You never will be."
Lindsey blusters, "You kill me?" He collapses back onto a couch and gasps, "A flunky?"
Lorne would be impressed by the defiance, Lindsey's determination to play a role. He has such a strong sense of destiny. Just like Angel does. Look what it's going to get him. The only way to break it is to make Lindsey see.
As Lindsey fades, his breaths become his dirge. Lorne listens until he hears the illusion shatter. Wolfram & Hart's last lie revealed. Lindsey will never have a grand destiny.
***
When Lindsey wakes up in the hospital and realizes that Lorne's the one that calls the ambulance, he is confused at first. As he realizes what it means, he's only slightly bitter.
But mostly he's grateful enough to pick up the phone to thank him. Halfway through the first ring, he realizes how to express it. To let Lorne know he truly understands.
Lindsey leaves LA and never looks back.
Lorne checks with the hospital a few days later. When he hears that Lindsey is gone with no forwarding address, it's the first time he's genuinely smiled in over a year.
Fin
Rating: PG
Words/Status: 457, complete
Genre: Angst; episode coda
Warnings: Spoilers for season finale of Angel. Which apparently might still be necessary.
Pairing/Characters: Lorne, Lindsey.
Notes: Kate had issues. So I played Kripk'd her Joss'd scene.
Angel's convinced Lindsey's got to go. The boy's just itching for a fight. He won't ever stop. And when they're all gone, Lindsey will keep fighting Wolfram & Hart and they'll use it to reel him in. Lindsey is both too good and too corrupt to be left to his own devices.
The others don't say a word. They're all in on this mad plan of Angel's. Lorne can hear it in their voices. Everything they say comes out like a lament. They don't have to sing; Lorne can practically write their requiem mass. Every time the others speak, Lorne's hit with the overwhelming knowledge that he's going to lose them. They're already gone.
But Lorne has heard Lindsey sing too. Lately it's been wafting through the vents at night. There's still good burning inside the man but Lorne can sense the evil winning. The weird fixation on Angel is the root of it. The need to be Angel's nemesis. Such a difference from the confused soul that used to sing at Caritas all those years ago.
So Lorne volunteers to be the one to take Lindsey out. He can't save his friends. Maybe he can save Lindsey. Make it all worth something. 3 years have meaning. Save SOMEONE from Wolfram & Hart. He doesn't trust Angel anymore. Can't believe as he once did. "I'll do this last thing for you, for us, but then I'm out."
Angel looks like he wants to say something, to repair the damage, but realizes there's nothing to say.
***
"One last job. You're not part of the solution, Lindsey. You never will be."
Lindsey blusters, "You kill me?" He collapses back onto a couch and gasps, "A flunky?"
Lorne would be impressed by the defiance, Lindsey's determination to play a role. He has such a strong sense of destiny. Just like Angel does. Look what it's going to get him. The only way to break it is to make Lindsey see.
As Lindsey fades, his breaths become his dirge. Lorne listens until he hears the illusion shatter. Wolfram & Hart's last lie revealed. Lindsey will never have a grand destiny.
***
When Lindsey wakes up in the hospital and realizes that Lorne's the one that calls the ambulance, he is confused at first. As he realizes what it means, he's only slightly bitter.
But mostly he's grateful enough to pick up the phone to thank him. Halfway through the first ring, he realizes how to express it. To let Lorne know he truly understands.
Lindsey leaves LA and never looks back.
Lorne checks with the hospital a few days later. When he hears that Lindsey is gone with no forwarding address, it's the first time he's genuinely smiled in over a year.
Fin