i managed to update quickly, so, hopefully you're not annoyed at me, or anything.
thanks for all the great reviews so far, it means a lot.
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Connor, Gunn, Illyria, and little Spike could all move again now.
Angel's memory had just faded, but he wasn't back with them yet.
Both Connor and Gunn were looking over at Spike, shocked. But he studiously avoided looking at them. Just thinking about that 'punishment' made his back hurt. Hell, it made his whole body hurt.
Unbeknown to them, Omeggia had already started his her second test. This one was on Connor. He was to endure all his father's memories. Both good and bad, and see if he can truly live with what he was...what he is.
"How did one half breed manage to cause so much pain and despair amongst others, especially that of his own kind?" Illyria asked. "What made him stop?"
"A Gypsy curse." Spike informed, his voice quiet.
Omeggia circled him, and he never turned his back on her.
"How do *you* fare, child?" She asked.
"I'm not a bloody child!" He snarled.
He found himself frozen to the spot, unable to move. He glared up at her, eyes full of anger, and detachment.
"Ah, but you are. You are in the body of one, and you are slowly regressing back. Surely even you know this?"
"I lived through this once, why've I gotta do it again?" He finaly answered her question.
"Maybe it is your test."
"To what?! Watch all the times I was beaten so bad I couldn't move? The times I was made to hold a cross for them to see my hands burnt and cracked? Or how about when I was thrown over a table, beaten an' bloody, only to have them laugh and fuck me?"
"It was not all bad, child. Take this one memory, for instance..."
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Angelus held his boy as he shook with emotion. William had told him about turning his mother, and he had laughed at the human emotion. But now he was curious about it, after the boy was finished telling him about how he'd staked her.
Even his mother, it would appear, had a stronger demon than the boy possessed.
He couldn't help but wonder if it was because Dru had sired him. She was vicious, dear girl that she was, but she was as mad as a hatter. Maybe she had drank too much of his blood, or maybe she hadn't fed him enough of her own blood. Possibly, it may have been cause just for the mere tragidy that she was insane. She was stuck as a vicous...animal, for lack of better word, but the lass, as, she was such a beautiful child. To be stuck that way for eternity, or 'til she became dust....Perhaps she wanted a playmate, as in 'playmate'. A demon that was vicious and cruel, like the rest of them, but to remain with a slice of his humanity, a willful child, for them to be together, forever, as children.
Angelus was forced from his musing as William burried his face in his chest, taking comfort in the older vampire's embrace.
"Are ye plannin' on stayin' there all night, William?" He asked. William mumbled something, muffled by Angelus' shirt against his mouth. The older vampire pulled him away a little. "What was tha', lad?"
"Yes, I am." He said sullenly.
Angelus laughed. The willful child indeed.
"Are ye, now?" The fledgling nodded. "Well, what'm I s'possed to do while ye're holdin' me down?"
"Stay." Was all he said, stubbornly.
"Well, how's 'bout ye go t' sleep, while we're 'ere, eh?"
"Not tired." He pouted, wiping his eyes tiredly.
Angelus sighed, a small smile on his face. "Ye not are ye?" A shake of the head. "Well, i guess i'll have t' sit here and wait till ye are, won't i?"
William nodded firmly, and snuggled up in his gandsire's embrace. He was asleep in minutes. Angelus laid him softly in bed, after stripping him down, and went of to find Drusilla. She'd tell him how she'd turned the boy, willfully or not.
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Angel didn't know why the memory came up, but that particular one brought a small smile to his face. He was glad to remember that he wasn't always a malicious vampire, even though there was only a scarce amount of memories like these.
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Connor watched as his father/Angelus was kind to an obviously upset William.
It made him resent that he'd never ogtten that, but that was only a small part of him.
He looked over at Spike. He could see that the now-small child was angry, and struggling fiercly against whatever it was that was holding him.
"*Fuck you!*" He finally screamed, twisting-at least, trying to-and spitting. "Let me the fuck go!" He tried to kick at Omeggia, tears in his eyes, yet harsh anger and defiance glittered there also. "Bloody fuckin' let me the fuck go!"
"Why are you angry at this memory?" She asked, puzzled. "I would think it lovely, this chapter in your life, since you had very little of it in your childhood." Everyone knew she meant his vampire-childhood, where he was was 'raised' by Darla, Angelus, and Drusilla.
"The child reeks of sadness. I which to be around it no more." Illyria said.
"I'm *not* a bloody child!" Spike screamed.
"If you calm down, she'll let you go." Connor said. He turned to Omeggia. "Funny that. You'll show us violence, if it isn't real. Makes me wonder why?"
"I will be able to freeze you instantly." She said, firmly, as if reading his mind. She turned her back on him, showing that she feared him little, and turned to little Spike, who was now suspended it mid-air, now able to kick and twist and punch. "I will release you, but you will stay by Charles Gunn."
As if he were suddenly let go by something that was holding him, Spike dropped to the floor. Painfully, he rose to his knees, and tried to stand, but he couldn't. He looked up, and saw that the others were frozen to the spot, unable to move. Omeggia was just looking at him, smiling.
Growling, he pushed up to his knees once more, and slowly crawled across the floor to Gunn, glaring at Omeggia as he did so. When he was beside him, a thing, almost like wind but different, pushed against him, moving his to sit between Gunn's splayed legs, partially behind him.
Then the other were able to move again, and Gunn turned to pick him up. Both ignored the tears that were starting to mark there way down his face.
Gunn checked him over for injuries that may have been caused by the fall. He'd bruised his ribs more, and he still hadn't recovered from the other dimension they'd been in.
As Angel's memory was starting, it faded from their view, and Omeggia turned to them once more.
"Think of someone, anyone. And they will be before you."
Illyria thought of Wesley, which was strange. He was suddenly before her, a smile on his face.
"Stragne, why this one? He was all but a man, a human. For an Old One to think of him, it is obserd."
"Do not question me." Illyria said.
"He was your guide." She knew, somehow. "To this world, the other, the things he taught you. Said to you."
"He called me a smurf."
Omeggia smiled. "From the children's cartoon. The little blue men, with the female blue."
"He did not seek to destroy me, as did the others."
Omeggia left her the image, and moved to Connor. He thought of his mother, Darla, who he'd once seen in a dream. She appeared before him, an affectionate smiled on her face. She was looking at him, seeing him, living him.
"For the woman you never knew, but loved none the less." She smiled, yet *again*. "You wish to have known her."
Connor scowled. "You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know me, or her!"
"No, but i know *of* you. She cared a great deal for you, before she killed herself. She wished for you to be born, instead of die. You gave her part of your soul, and she cherished it."
"Shut up!" He demanded.
"Very well." She moved to Gunn, who thought of his sister, Allana. She appeared, just looking at him, no smile.
"Why isn't she smiling?" He asked, his face hard.
"She simply wishes not to."
"What's this about?"
"My tests, of coarse. Though, you all participate, it is not your test. Well, it *is* one of your, but i will not reveal whose." She looked to Spike, a frown on her face. "You think of no one. Why? They think of those who have died, and of those they, in some way, cared for, and cared for them. Even that known as Angel thinks of someone."
"Who?" Connor asked. He was a teenager, after all, he was full of curiousity.
"Why, of you." She said. "He loves you deeply. Even without the soul, in some way, he loves you. There are others, of coarse, as there are others in all of you. But you, Connor, are the first one. The rest come after you."
Spike was, somehow, blocking his mind from her. Of all the people, and vampires, he thought about, none of them came first. They all came together. He never understood that.
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Soon enough, Angel's memories were done, and he'd faced all of them. He'd passed.
His face was sad, though, brooding, though that was hardly a difference.
Omeggia turned, to leave them for a while.
Connor, without watching, had seen and witnessed all that his father had just relived. He looked at him differently, now. His father caught the look.
"What?"
He smiled. "Nothing."
Angel was happy that his son was smiling. He hadn't seen it often enough, but he cherished it.
Then he remebered, and took Spike from Gunn's arms. He held his lips to the boy's ear, and whispered something. They saw little Spike nod his head, once, and he was set down.
"Two of you have passed the test, one is in motion, and two are to come. Who will be next, it will be your decision."
"I will." Spike said, stepping fowards. He was stopped by Connor's hand grasping his shirt at the shoulder.
"No, he won't."
"I will." Gunn said, before Spike could protest.
"Very well. Be prepared, Charles Gunn."
Gun had time to say, "Shit!" before he was punged down, and into darkness.
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It's long, and it doesn't reveal much, i know. But it's a short break for it.
review please
TBC
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