Fic: Never Over (2/2)
Title: Never Over
Author: Semby
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters and am not profiting.
Rating: 13+
Summary: Angel, Connor and Faith join up to keep fighting the good fight after the Ats finale.
A/N: Written for the ‘We Will Not Fade Away’ Post-NFA Ficathon. Request is at the end.
Thanks to: garnigal for the beta.
Part 1
Part 2
The three reacted instantly, jumping out of the way of the approaching spears. The one flung at Faith managed to graze her arm and she flinched, but didn’t falter.
“You okay?” Connor asked quickly.
“Five by five,” she answered, neither looking his way nor inspecting her wound - focused only on their enemies.
All six of Zerev’s huge, hulking minions had started approaching them, but were stopped by Zerev’s orders. “Not yet! I’ve been waiting for these three. I’d be disappointed if they were eliminated so fast. I’ve heard watching their fighting is like a night at the theater. Three of you stay back.”
Angel and the others didn’t know whether to be thankful they’d only have to tackle one at a time, or worried at Zerev’s confidence, even with having some knowledge of their fighting skills.
Three held back as ordered, but the three that fought weren’t holding back at all. It quickly turned into a fearsome battle, swords slashing, people and demons kicking, ducking, sweating, grunting. They all felt the effort, felt their strength being used to the best of their abilities, felt fear that it wouldn’t be enough, but no one was going down fast enough.
And Zerev sat in front of it all, watching with a smile. He calmly surveyed the small battle, and eventually spoke again. “Was this what you wanted?”
None of the fighters were to be distracted, and none were affected by the question enough to answer it.
“Angel,” he said more forcefully. “Was this what you wanted? This world? This future?”
Angel still didn’t say anything, kept on fighting with complete focus, but Zerev wouldn’t be ignored, and repeated his name. “What?” Angel finally yelled in agitation, though not letting himself get distracted from his opponent. “What are you asking me?”
“Was it worth it?” Zerev pressed more specifically. He knew Angel wasn’t as unaware of his meaning as he was pretending to be. “You sacrificed everything for that fight that day. You were prepared to give up any life, including your own. And you did - you gave your friends’ lives and your only chance at ever having the humanity you’ve craved. Look at the world you’ve made in your passion and righteousness. The city is bleak, devoid of human life - is this what you wanted? Is this what you risked everything you cared about to achieve?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Faith shouted furiously, with a final swing chopping off the head of her opponent, and then Connor’s. “Ever get sick of hearing yourself talking? Because I sure have.”
With a wave of Zerev’s hand motioning them, two of his other soldiers stepped forward to take over for those that had been lost. The battle continued with barely a moment’s hesitation.
“That’s fair for you to say, slayer, but we all know how much you’ve valued human life in the past,” Zerev responded. “I’d still like to hear Angel’s thoughts on the matter.”
“What do you want to hear, Zerev?” Angel gasped out as he was thrown against a wall, only to pull back and make a nice slice through his attacker’s side. “That I miss what I’ve lost? I do. That I regret every day the way things turned out? That’s true, too. That I wish I could go back and do things differently, now that I know what’s become of my actions? Not a chance.” He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Connor had taken a hit to the shoulder and dropped to one knee, his sword flying out of his hands out of reach, and he side-stepped the demon he was fighting to quickly help Connor up and hand him a spare blade. There wasn’t time to help him any more than that before turning back to his own fight. “We do what we can, whatever it takes. My friends who lost their lives that night went into the fight knowing what we could lose and gain. We haven’t stopped your bosses, but we’ve hurt them.”
“Hurt them?” Zerev laughed loudly. “You think you’ve hurt them? Look around! Look at the despair you’ve caused! We rule this city more than we ever have. You’ve opened new doors for them. You killed some of their followers, but there will always be more to join the cause. And now that the world has seen some of their power, however in denial about it they may be, it will only be easier for the senior partners to take over the rest of the world when the time comes. The masses will submit; they will bow in fear. And your name will go down in history as the one who helped it come to pass.”
If anything, Zerev’s goading only served to increase the fire to their punches, their desire to bring down their enemy however they could. Angel wasn’t the only one infuriated and nauseated by Zerev’s words - Connor had let out a scream of frustration with a massive blow to his opponent, Faith had tackled hers and was delivering punch after punch until he was unrecognizable and unmovable, and within moments, all three of the demons they had been fighting were out of the picture.
Zerev, still not looking very concerned or threatened, still not moving from his relaxed position in his chair or dropping his snide, irritatingly confident smile, gave them a short applause.
Connor, still fiery with a rage Angel hadn’t seen in him since he had to slit his throat, charged towards Zerev and plunged his blade into the demon’s torso. Zerev didn’t fight him at all, and his smile left his lips but not his eyes. He looked at Connor as his life force began to fade. “I didn’t think it would be you,” he remarked. “Well done. But don’t forget: you can kill me. They will always have more followers.” He choked, barely holding onto life. “And where has my sixth guard gone?”
As Zerev’s eyes closed, and his body fell to the side, Connor stepped back, appalled and confused, and turned to the others with an unreadable expression on his face. Together they turned toward the remaining light source in the room, which was no longer the orb, but a simple lamp.
Faith threw down her weapons and left the room abruptly. Angel dropped his head and touched his hand to his brow. Connor glanced uselessly over Zerev’s body. “We failed,” he muttered.
Angel didn’t respond, only followed Faith’s footsteps outside.
**
Several hours later, Connor walked back into his and Angel’s temporary home. He found Angel and Faith just sitting, on opposite sides of the room, eerily quiet and still.
“Where have you been?” Angel asked grimly.
Connor glanced at him, threw his weapons on the table and sat down to start removing his boots. “I tried to track him - the sixth one.”
“Waste of time,” Faith commented.
“No kidding,” Connor agreed, without aggravation or argument.
“No, it was a good thought,” Angel defended Connor, even if Connor wouldn’t defend himself. “The full moon is still a few days away. I just figure they’re keeping the location of the other demon and his ritual very well-concealed - too well-concealed for us, without even a snitch or a seer. We came up with nothing before.”
“Yeah,” Connor responded noncommittally.
“What did he mean?” Faith said. “About you giving up your chance at humanity?”
Angel gave a long sigh. “There was a prophecy saying I’d be human some day. It’s invalid now.”
“You know, in my experience, prophecies don’t exactly tend to become ‘invalid’,” Faith remarked. “I’m thinking it would take a hell of a lot to undo one.”
“Or just a signature in blood,” Angel responded.
“Oh,” she said. She didn’t have any experience with that method of trying to undo a prophecy.
Connor was less receptive to that reply. His face twisted in annoyance, and he snapped, “Why would you do something like that? You had an opportunity to be normal and you just threw it away? If this is really all you want to be for the rest of eternity, then-”
“Connor, shut up,” Angel replied angrily. “It’s not what I wanted. It’s something I had to sacrifice for the cause, and I don’t owe either of you any explanations.”
“Like the other sacrifices you had to make for the cause?” Faith suddenly asked bitterly. “Like Wes? Like Gunn and Spike? Do you not owe us any explanations for their sake? They were going somewhere in making the world a better place too, you know. I don’t think Zerev was half as full of shit as we’d like him to be. He’s right - the way things are now, was it worth it?”
Angel couldn’t argue. He dropped his head into his hands and murmured softly, so that the others had to take a moment to absorb what he’d said, “I wish - God, I wish - they could be here fighting by our sides today.”
The others nodded softly, knowing he meant it. Angel wouldn’t have allowed their deaths if he hadn’t, at the time, thought it was the best thing for the fate of the world. It was just hard now to acknowledge that it actually had been the best thing. They were quiet for a very long moment.
“So this is it, huh?” Connor at last mused, seemingly thinking aloud. “We missed our one opportunity.”
“No.” Angel shook his head. “There will be others. They might be stronger after this ritual, but just because we can’t beat them doesn’t mean we can’t fight them. You heard Zerev - there’ll always be more to come.”
Faith sighed in frustration. “But it’s so meaningless! We kill their followers - they just get new, stronger ones. No matter what, they always win, unless we go straight to them - knock off the senior partners.”
“That’s impossible,” Angel replied. “I don’t even know what they really are - or even where they are actually - but I know we’re no match for them. But it’s not meaningless - nothing we do is meaningless. They might have a million loyal subjects ready to step in for them at any moment, but it’s got to at least be a pain in their ass for us to keep spoiling their plans and make them use the replacements, right?”
“I doubt it,” Connor scoffed. “Plus what difference does it make if we annoy them a little? In the long run, they still win. Our fighting doesn’t do any good.”
Angel argued back, “Just because we can’t save the world doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep fighting.” He actually smiled then, and gave a small chuckle, before continuing, “I’m going to share with you this little epiphany I had a few years back…”
End.
Request:
Lj Username: yhlee
One to Three Characters You'd Like To See: Angel, Faith, Connor
Two Things You Want: Aftermath of "signing away shanshu" (in any direction). Kicking the senior partners in the teeth some more.
One Thing You Don't Want: Happy ending (am in the mood for angst).
What Rating(s) You'd Like: no preference
Author: Semby
Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters and am not profiting.
Rating: 13+
Summary: Angel, Connor and Faith join up to keep fighting the good fight after the Ats finale.
A/N: Written for the ‘We Will Not Fade Away’ Post-NFA Ficathon. Request is at the end.
Thanks to: garnigal for the beta.
Part 1
Part 2
The three reacted instantly, jumping out of the way of the approaching spears. The one flung at Faith managed to graze her arm and she flinched, but didn’t falter.
“You okay?” Connor asked quickly.
“Five by five,” she answered, neither looking his way nor inspecting her wound - focused only on their enemies.
All six of Zerev’s huge, hulking minions had started approaching them, but were stopped by Zerev’s orders. “Not yet! I’ve been waiting for these three. I’d be disappointed if they were eliminated so fast. I’ve heard watching their fighting is like a night at the theater. Three of you stay back.”
Angel and the others didn’t know whether to be thankful they’d only have to tackle one at a time, or worried at Zerev’s confidence, even with having some knowledge of their fighting skills.
Three held back as ordered, but the three that fought weren’t holding back at all. It quickly turned into a fearsome battle, swords slashing, people and demons kicking, ducking, sweating, grunting. They all felt the effort, felt their strength being used to the best of their abilities, felt fear that it wouldn’t be enough, but no one was going down fast enough.
And Zerev sat in front of it all, watching with a smile. He calmly surveyed the small battle, and eventually spoke again. “Was this what you wanted?”
None of the fighters were to be distracted, and none were affected by the question enough to answer it.
“Angel,” he said more forcefully. “Was this what you wanted? This world? This future?”
Angel still didn’t say anything, kept on fighting with complete focus, but Zerev wouldn’t be ignored, and repeated his name. “What?” Angel finally yelled in agitation, though not letting himself get distracted from his opponent. “What are you asking me?”
“Was it worth it?” Zerev pressed more specifically. He knew Angel wasn’t as unaware of his meaning as he was pretending to be. “You sacrificed everything for that fight that day. You were prepared to give up any life, including your own. And you did - you gave your friends’ lives and your only chance at ever having the humanity you’ve craved. Look at the world you’ve made in your passion and righteousness. The city is bleak, devoid of human life - is this what you wanted? Is this what you risked everything you cared about to achieve?”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Faith shouted furiously, with a final swing chopping off the head of her opponent, and then Connor’s. “Ever get sick of hearing yourself talking? Because I sure have.”
With a wave of Zerev’s hand motioning them, two of his other soldiers stepped forward to take over for those that had been lost. The battle continued with barely a moment’s hesitation.
“That’s fair for you to say, slayer, but we all know how much you’ve valued human life in the past,” Zerev responded. “I’d still like to hear Angel’s thoughts on the matter.”
“What do you want to hear, Zerev?” Angel gasped out as he was thrown against a wall, only to pull back and make a nice slice through his attacker’s side. “That I miss what I’ve lost? I do. That I regret every day the way things turned out? That’s true, too. That I wish I could go back and do things differently, now that I know what’s become of my actions? Not a chance.” He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Connor had taken a hit to the shoulder and dropped to one knee, his sword flying out of his hands out of reach, and he side-stepped the demon he was fighting to quickly help Connor up and hand him a spare blade. There wasn’t time to help him any more than that before turning back to his own fight. “We do what we can, whatever it takes. My friends who lost their lives that night went into the fight knowing what we could lose and gain. We haven’t stopped your bosses, but we’ve hurt them.”
“Hurt them?” Zerev laughed loudly. “You think you’ve hurt them? Look around! Look at the despair you’ve caused! We rule this city more than we ever have. You’ve opened new doors for them. You killed some of their followers, but there will always be more to join the cause. And now that the world has seen some of their power, however in denial about it they may be, it will only be easier for the senior partners to take over the rest of the world when the time comes. The masses will submit; they will bow in fear. And your name will go down in history as the one who helped it come to pass.”
If anything, Zerev’s goading only served to increase the fire to their punches, their desire to bring down their enemy however they could. Angel wasn’t the only one infuriated and nauseated by Zerev’s words - Connor had let out a scream of frustration with a massive blow to his opponent, Faith had tackled hers and was delivering punch after punch until he was unrecognizable and unmovable, and within moments, all three of the demons they had been fighting were out of the picture.
Zerev, still not looking very concerned or threatened, still not moving from his relaxed position in his chair or dropping his snide, irritatingly confident smile, gave them a short applause.
Connor, still fiery with a rage Angel hadn’t seen in him since he had to slit his throat, charged towards Zerev and plunged his blade into the demon’s torso. Zerev didn’t fight him at all, and his smile left his lips but not his eyes. He looked at Connor as his life force began to fade. “I didn’t think it would be you,” he remarked. “Well done. But don’t forget: you can kill me. They will always have more followers.” He choked, barely holding onto life. “And where has my sixth guard gone?”
As Zerev’s eyes closed, and his body fell to the side, Connor stepped back, appalled and confused, and turned to the others with an unreadable expression on his face. Together they turned toward the remaining light source in the room, which was no longer the orb, but a simple lamp.
Faith threw down her weapons and left the room abruptly. Angel dropped his head and touched his hand to his brow. Connor glanced uselessly over Zerev’s body. “We failed,” he muttered.
Angel didn’t respond, only followed Faith’s footsteps outside.
**
Several hours later, Connor walked back into his and Angel’s temporary home. He found Angel and Faith just sitting, on opposite sides of the room, eerily quiet and still.
“Where have you been?” Angel asked grimly.
Connor glanced at him, threw his weapons on the table and sat down to start removing his boots. “I tried to track him - the sixth one.”
“Waste of time,” Faith commented.
“No kidding,” Connor agreed, without aggravation or argument.
“No, it was a good thought,” Angel defended Connor, even if Connor wouldn’t defend himself. “The full moon is still a few days away. I just figure they’re keeping the location of the other demon and his ritual very well-concealed - too well-concealed for us, without even a snitch or a seer. We came up with nothing before.”
“Yeah,” Connor responded noncommittally.
“What did he mean?” Faith said. “About you giving up your chance at humanity?”
Angel gave a long sigh. “There was a prophecy saying I’d be human some day. It’s invalid now.”
“You know, in my experience, prophecies don’t exactly tend to become ‘invalid’,” Faith remarked. “I’m thinking it would take a hell of a lot to undo one.”
“Or just a signature in blood,” Angel responded.
“Oh,” she said. She didn’t have any experience with that method of trying to undo a prophecy.
Connor was less receptive to that reply. His face twisted in annoyance, and he snapped, “Why would you do something like that? You had an opportunity to be normal and you just threw it away? If this is really all you want to be for the rest of eternity, then-”
“Connor, shut up,” Angel replied angrily. “It’s not what I wanted. It’s something I had to sacrifice for the cause, and I don’t owe either of you any explanations.”
“Like the other sacrifices you had to make for the cause?” Faith suddenly asked bitterly. “Like Wes? Like Gunn and Spike? Do you not owe us any explanations for their sake? They were going somewhere in making the world a better place too, you know. I don’t think Zerev was half as full of shit as we’d like him to be. He’s right - the way things are now, was it worth it?”
Angel couldn’t argue. He dropped his head into his hands and murmured softly, so that the others had to take a moment to absorb what he’d said, “I wish - God, I wish - they could be here fighting by our sides today.”
The others nodded softly, knowing he meant it. Angel wouldn’t have allowed their deaths if he hadn’t, at the time, thought it was the best thing for the fate of the world. It was just hard now to acknowledge that it actually had been the best thing. They were quiet for a very long moment.
“So this is it, huh?” Connor at last mused, seemingly thinking aloud. “We missed our one opportunity.”
“No.” Angel shook his head. “There will be others. They might be stronger after this ritual, but just because we can’t beat them doesn’t mean we can’t fight them. You heard Zerev - there’ll always be more to come.”
Faith sighed in frustration. “But it’s so meaningless! We kill their followers - they just get new, stronger ones. No matter what, they always win, unless we go straight to them - knock off the senior partners.”
“That’s impossible,” Angel replied. “I don’t even know what they really are - or even where they are actually - but I know we’re no match for them. But it’s not meaningless - nothing we do is meaningless. They might have a million loyal subjects ready to step in for them at any moment, but it’s got to at least be a pain in their ass for us to keep spoiling their plans and make them use the replacements, right?”
“I doubt it,” Connor scoffed. “Plus what difference does it make if we annoy them a little? In the long run, they still win. Our fighting doesn’t do any good.”
Angel argued back, “Just because we can’t save the world doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep fighting.” He actually smiled then, and gave a small chuckle, before continuing, “I’m going to share with you this little epiphany I had a few years back…”
End.
Request:
Lj Username: yhlee
One to Three Characters You'd Like To See: Angel, Faith, Connor
Two Things You Want: Aftermath of "signing away shanshu" (in any direction). Kicking the senior partners in the teeth some more.
One Thing You Don't Want: Happy ending (am in the mood for angst).
What Rating(s) You'd Like: no preference