Fic: Moonlight Changes Everything 4/4
Jan. 28th, 2011 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonyphoenixTitle: Moonlight Changes Everything
Fandom: BtVS
Characters/Pairing: In this part, Dru, Angelus, vamp!Willow, Giles, Buffy
Rating: PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: At the start of Becoming, Angelus captures Willow and Xander. Everything changes.
Notes: Written for a prompt from one of the prompt tables at bad_swa: moonlight
Notes: For those of you who thought this had five parts, ooops! I misremembered.
When the phone rang, Oz and Kendra, sitting on opposite sides of the library table, stared at each other for a long moment. “I'll go,” Oz said on the third ring, already having realized Kendra had some odd constraints. There were things she didn't like to do and apparently answering someone else's phone, even if it was as public a phone as the library's, was among them.
“Hey,” he said into the mouthpiece, shouting after a moment, “Whoa, slow down! What about Giles?” He hung his head for a moment before adding, “What do you need?” After another pause he said, “Got it, but she'll never find the mansion on her own, and my van is right outside.”
* * *
From the front door, Willow followed the screams, ignoring the main hallway and heading right, to the small, unfurnished room where Angelus had stowed Giles.
“Took you long enough,” Angelus said. “You've missed one of my favorite parts. The first couple of cuts,” he added, holding up a short hunting knife, ”really do tell you how someone will handle torture. Rupert here is the stoic type. It'll probably take days to break him.” Smiling at Giles, he added, “I'm looking forward to it.”
“We've got trouble,” Willow told him. “Drusilla told Buffy where we are.”
“Did she?” Willow stepped back at the unexpected joy in his voice. “Such a thoughtful Childe Dru is. Knowing I want to kill Buffy, Dru delivers her right to my doorstep.” Tilting his head, Angelus looked Giles over. “You know, I've never counted how many cuts it takes to kill a human. Let's see how far we can get before Buffy shows up, shall we? One,” he said, slicing through Giles' arm. As the blood soaked into the shirt, Angelus said, “This is why you get them naked first. It's so much more fun to watch blood running down bare skin.”
“Shouldn't we prepare, for Buffy I mean?” Willow asked.
Angelus shrugged. “There's nothing to do that hasn't been done. Might as well have some fun while we're waiting. Two,” he said, slicing across Giles' chest. “Ah, there's my boy,” he added over Giles' screams.
He'd worked his way up to the seventeenth cut when Dru came rushing in. “It's all gone wrong. The Slayer is on her way. She ruins everything.”
Giles grinned, a dark uptwisting of the lips, promising pain and death.
“Dru, honey,” Angelus said. “It'll be a party, a little mayhem, a little death. Hell, seeing his Slayer's dead body might be what Rupert needs to send him over the edge enough to tell us how to awaken Acathala.”
“No, no,” Dru wailed.
“What have you Seen?” Angelus asked, suddenly serious.
“It doesn't go the way I planned,” Dru said.
“Plans never do,” Willow informed her.
“What goes wrong?” Angelus asked.
“The firmament falls away. So many of the puppets die, but for the rest it's worse. They stand alone.”
“Dru, that's hardly helpful,” Angelus said in a singsong chant.
As Dru backed against the wall, her eyes staring at nothing visible, Willow said, “I don't see why you keep her. It's not like the visions are useful.”
Still staring off into space, Dru said, “She's the only one who can do it. The Chosen strikes at the root of the tree, sending it toppling down. Only the vixen who lies in wait, ready to attack, has a chance to survive.”
Willow, who had frozen at Dru's words, bolted out the door.
“Dru,” Angelus said. “What'd you do?”
Smiling at him, she replied, “Planted a few seeds.”
Angelus glanced between Giles and the door, his eyes tracing Willow's path. Finally, pocketing the knife, he said, “Let's go watch the show.”
* * *
When the van turned the corner, Buffy stepped out of the bushes, making sure Oz and Kendra would see her. “Thought it was up the street,” Oz said.
“I don't want them to see us coming. Where is it?”
“In the back,” Oz replied, nodding toward the rear of the van, “but I'm coming with.”
“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “It's too dangerous.”
“Angelus, Drusilla. Spike. Willow.” His voice choked on the last name. “Enough vamps to keep both of you busy. You'll need someone to get Giles out.”
“If he's still alive,” Kendra added.
“I think he is,” Buffy said. “They took him for a reason. They won't kill him quickly.” Climbing into the back of the van, Buffy added, “Third driveway on the left. Get us as close to the house as you can.”
Kendra leaped out of the van before it had rolled to a stop. Buffy, burdened with her weapon, followed closely with Oz trailing in the rear. As Kendra kicked in the door, sending it flying open, Buffy started up the rocket launcher, it's high-pitched whine reminding her of battles won. “No heroics,” she shouted to Oz as she stepped into the mansion. “Get Giles out and get gone.”
Oz, sniffing the air, headed right, working his way down a side hallway as Kendra and Buffy walked straight ahead, making their way to a large room lit both by torches and the flames blazing in the fireplace. “Torches?” Buffy called out to Angelus. “What is it with vamps and the whole Goth-chick look?”
Angelus, his eyes lighting on the rocket launcher, shouted “No” as Buffy's hand pulled back, releasing a rocket. The three vampires ducked for cover as Acathala shattered into tiny bits.
“No getting sucked into hell today,” Buffy added.
“The Slayer is mine,” Willow shouted, racing toward Buffy.
“I guess you'll have to settle for me,” Kendra told Angelus, leveling her sword straight at his throat.
Angelus, with a quick quarter-turn, rolled across the floor, grabbed the fire poker in passing, leaped back to his feet, and turned to Kendra with the poker raised high in an attack position. Shifting into vamp-face, he said, “I can live with that.”
As Buffy and Willow paired off, Buffy pulled out a stake. “I'm sorry, Willow.”
“Don't be,” Willow replied, shifting into a fighting stance. “I'm not. I was always the little sidekick: boring, dull, dependable. Now I'm a power in my own right, and I'm about to bag my first Slayer.”
“If you're all superpowery, how did Xander die?”
As Willow kicked at her, Buffy, with “seems like I touched a nerve” on her lips, stepped to the right, just enough to miss being kicked, turning as she moved, positioning herself to jam an elbow into Willow's torso. As she was slamming the stake toward Willow's chest, Buffy jerked her head to the right as she caught a glimpse of Giles, covered in blood and leaning heavily on Oz as they made their way to the door. Willow, taking advantage of Buffy's distraction, swept her arms down, blocking the strike with such force that the stake fell to the floor. A headbutt to the ear sent Buffy sprawling downward.
“This is too easy,” Willow sneered. “To think I used to be impressed.”
Buffy leaped to her feet into a fighting stance, ready to defend herself, only to see Dru knocking Willow to the floor, raining blow after blow with a flaming torch, keeping Willow down as her hair caught fire. Over the explosion of dust, Buffy called out, “I thought you said only I could kill her.”
“Don't be silly,” Dru replied. “I knew she'd be listening so I made that up.”
Both heads turned at a scream from the other side of the room. Kendra, blood running down from her temple, was trying to get up off the floor while Angelus stood over her, poker raised high. “Leave it to a Slayer to die hard,” he said, slamming the poker down.
“No, you will not hurt Daddy.” As Dru lunged forward, Buffy stepped out of the way, grabbed Dru's arm and, with a hand at the small of her back, shoved her at Angelus. The two of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
“Gotta go,” Buffy said, racing across the room to help Kendra up.
Staggering, held up by Buffy, Kendra wiped enough blood from her face so she could see. “What about Mr. Giles?”
“Oz got him out. With any luck, they're well out of here.”
“Or they could have waited,” Kendra said as they stepped out the front door.
“Not that I'm complaining,” Buffy called out as she glanced back to see Angelus and Dru start after them, “but why didn't you get Giles to a hospital?”
“He said to wait,” Oz replied.
“OK,” Buffy said as she shut the car door behind them. “We're in. Go, go, go.”
“Already gone,” Oz replied.
Angelus and Dru reached the doorway just as the car roared out of sight. “This is all your fault,” he shouted, smashing his fist into her face. She took a few steps back but didn't fall. “Acathala is a pile of rubble.” He hit her again, punching her in the stomach until she doubled over. “Willow is dead.” Grabbing her hair he yanked her until she was standing, held up by his hand. “Buffy escaped.” His fist hit her face. She fell. The scent of jasmine, night-blooming, was overwhelmed by the tang of blood as she hit the ground. Her eyes turned toward him. “Get up,” he whispered.
“My Angel?” Dru asked as she raised herself off the ground.
The black lace of her dress tore under his fingers as he grabbed her shoulder, yanking her to him. He accused her, each word accompanied by a blow that send her head reeling from side-to-side. “You.” Her her head flew left. “Ruined.” He punched her again. “Everything.” He threw her to the ground, and this time she did not look up. “What a pitiful, mewling thing you are. You don't even try to defend yourself.”
When she heard his boots clicking against stone, stepping oh so far away, she looked up and whispered “Daddy” so quietly that even she didn't hear it.
Fandom: BtVS
Characters/Pairing: In this part, Dru, Angelus, vamp!Willow, Giles, Buffy
Rating: PG-13
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but the will be once I've taken over the world. Bwah-ha-ha.
Summary: At the start of Becoming, Angelus captures Willow and Xander. Everything changes.
Notes: Written for a prompt from one of the prompt tables at bad_swa: moonlight
Notes: For those of you who thought this had five parts, ooops! I misremembered.
When the phone rang, Oz and Kendra, sitting on opposite sides of the library table, stared at each other for a long moment. “I'll go,” Oz said on the third ring, already having realized Kendra had some odd constraints. There were things she didn't like to do and apparently answering someone else's phone, even if it was as public a phone as the library's, was among them.
“Hey,” he said into the mouthpiece, shouting after a moment, “Whoa, slow down! What about Giles?” He hung his head for a moment before adding, “What do you need?” After another pause he said, “Got it, but she'll never find the mansion on her own, and my van is right outside.”
* * *
From the front door, Willow followed the screams, ignoring the main hallway and heading right, to the small, unfurnished room where Angelus had stowed Giles.
“Took you long enough,” Angelus said. “You've missed one of my favorite parts. The first couple of cuts,” he added, holding up a short hunting knife, ”really do tell you how someone will handle torture. Rupert here is the stoic type. It'll probably take days to break him.” Smiling at Giles, he added, “I'm looking forward to it.”
“We've got trouble,” Willow told him. “Drusilla told Buffy where we are.”
“Did she?” Willow stepped back at the unexpected joy in his voice. “Such a thoughtful Childe Dru is. Knowing I want to kill Buffy, Dru delivers her right to my doorstep.” Tilting his head, Angelus looked Giles over. “You know, I've never counted how many cuts it takes to kill a human. Let's see how far we can get before Buffy shows up, shall we? One,” he said, slicing through Giles' arm. As the blood soaked into the shirt, Angelus said, “This is why you get them naked first. It's so much more fun to watch blood running down bare skin.”
“Shouldn't we prepare, for Buffy I mean?” Willow asked.
Angelus shrugged. “There's nothing to do that hasn't been done. Might as well have some fun while we're waiting. Two,” he said, slicing across Giles' chest. “Ah, there's my boy,” he added over Giles' screams.
He'd worked his way up to the seventeenth cut when Dru came rushing in. “It's all gone wrong. The Slayer is on her way. She ruins everything.”
Giles grinned, a dark uptwisting of the lips, promising pain and death.
“Dru, honey,” Angelus said. “It'll be a party, a little mayhem, a little death. Hell, seeing his Slayer's dead body might be what Rupert needs to send him over the edge enough to tell us how to awaken Acathala.”
“No, no,” Dru wailed.
“What have you Seen?” Angelus asked, suddenly serious.
“It doesn't go the way I planned,” Dru said.
“Plans never do,” Willow informed her.
“What goes wrong?” Angelus asked.
“The firmament falls away. So many of the puppets die, but for the rest it's worse. They stand alone.”
“Dru, that's hardly helpful,” Angelus said in a singsong chant.
As Dru backed against the wall, her eyes staring at nothing visible, Willow said, “I don't see why you keep her. It's not like the visions are useful.”
Still staring off into space, Dru said, “She's the only one who can do it. The Chosen strikes at the root of the tree, sending it toppling down. Only the vixen who lies in wait, ready to attack, has a chance to survive.”
Willow, who had frozen at Dru's words, bolted out the door.
“Dru,” Angelus said. “What'd you do?”
Smiling at him, she replied, “Planted a few seeds.”
Angelus glanced between Giles and the door, his eyes tracing Willow's path. Finally, pocketing the knife, he said, “Let's go watch the show.”
* * *
When the van turned the corner, Buffy stepped out of the bushes, making sure Oz and Kendra would see her. “Thought it was up the street,” Oz said.
“I don't want them to see us coming. Where is it?”
“In the back,” Oz replied, nodding toward the rear of the van, “but I'm coming with.”
“No,” Buffy said, shaking her head. “It's too dangerous.”
“Angelus, Drusilla. Spike. Willow.” His voice choked on the last name. “Enough vamps to keep both of you busy. You'll need someone to get Giles out.”
“If he's still alive,” Kendra added.
“I think he is,” Buffy said. “They took him for a reason. They won't kill him quickly.” Climbing into the back of the van, Buffy added, “Third driveway on the left. Get us as close to the house as you can.”
Kendra leaped out of the van before it had rolled to a stop. Buffy, burdened with her weapon, followed closely with Oz trailing in the rear. As Kendra kicked in the door, sending it flying open, Buffy started up the rocket launcher, it's high-pitched whine reminding her of battles won. “No heroics,” she shouted to Oz as she stepped into the mansion. “Get Giles out and get gone.”
Oz, sniffing the air, headed right, working his way down a side hallway as Kendra and Buffy walked straight ahead, making their way to a large room lit both by torches and the flames blazing in the fireplace. “Torches?” Buffy called out to Angelus. “What is it with vamps and the whole Goth-chick look?”
Angelus, his eyes lighting on the rocket launcher, shouted “No” as Buffy's hand pulled back, releasing a rocket. The three vampires ducked for cover as Acathala shattered into tiny bits.
“No getting sucked into hell today,” Buffy added.
“The Slayer is mine,” Willow shouted, racing toward Buffy.
“I guess you'll have to settle for me,” Kendra told Angelus, leveling her sword straight at his throat.
Angelus, with a quick quarter-turn, rolled across the floor, grabbed the fire poker in passing, leaped back to his feet, and turned to Kendra with the poker raised high in an attack position. Shifting into vamp-face, he said, “I can live with that.”
As Buffy and Willow paired off, Buffy pulled out a stake. “I'm sorry, Willow.”
“Don't be,” Willow replied, shifting into a fighting stance. “I'm not. I was always the little sidekick: boring, dull, dependable. Now I'm a power in my own right, and I'm about to bag my first Slayer.”
“If you're all superpowery, how did Xander die?”
As Willow kicked at her, Buffy, with “seems like I touched a nerve” on her lips, stepped to the right, just enough to miss being kicked, turning as she moved, positioning herself to jam an elbow into Willow's torso. As she was slamming the stake toward Willow's chest, Buffy jerked her head to the right as she caught a glimpse of Giles, covered in blood and leaning heavily on Oz as they made their way to the door. Willow, taking advantage of Buffy's distraction, swept her arms down, blocking the strike with such force that the stake fell to the floor. A headbutt to the ear sent Buffy sprawling downward.
“This is too easy,” Willow sneered. “To think I used to be impressed.”
Buffy leaped to her feet into a fighting stance, ready to defend herself, only to see Dru knocking Willow to the floor, raining blow after blow with a flaming torch, keeping Willow down as her hair caught fire. Over the explosion of dust, Buffy called out, “I thought you said only I could kill her.”
“Don't be silly,” Dru replied. “I knew she'd be listening so I made that up.”
Both heads turned at a scream from the other side of the room. Kendra, blood running down from her temple, was trying to get up off the floor while Angelus stood over her, poker raised high. “Leave it to a Slayer to die hard,” he said, slamming the poker down.
“No, you will not hurt Daddy.” As Dru lunged forward, Buffy stepped out of the way, grabbed Dru's arm and, with a hand at the small of her back, shoved her at Angelus. The two of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
“Gotta go,” Buffy said, racing across the room to help Kendra up.
Staggering, held up by Buffy, Kendra wiped enough blood from her face so she could see. “What about Mr. Giles?”
“Oz got him out. With any luck, they're well out of here.”
“Or they could have waited,” Kendra said as they stepped out the front door.
“Not that I'm complaining,” Buffy called out as she glanced back to see Angelus and Dru start after them, “but why didn't you get Giles to a hospital?”
“He said to wait,” Oz replied.
“OK,” Buffy said as she shut the car door behind them. “We're in. Go, go, go.”
“Already gone,” Oz replied.
Angelus and Dru reached the doorway just as the car roared out of sight. “This is all your fault,” he shouted, smashing his fist into her face. She took a few steps back but didn't fall. “Acathala is a pile of rubble.” He hit her again, punching her in the stomach until she doubled over. “Willow is dead.” Grabbing her hair he yanked her until she was standing, held up by his hand. “Buffy escaped.” His fist hit her face. She fell. The scent of jasmine, night-blooming, was overwhelmed by the tang of blood as she hit the ground. Her eyes turned toward him. “Get up,” he whispered.
“My Angel?” Dru asked as she raised herself off the ground.
The black lace of her dress tore under his fingers as he grabbed her shoulder, yanking her to him. He accused her, each word accompanied by a blow that send her head reeling from side-to-side. “You.” Her her head flew left. “Ruined.” He punched her again. “Everything.” He threw her to the ground, and this time she did not look up. “What a pitiful, mewling thing you are. You don't even try to defend yourself.”
When she heard his boots clicking against stone, stepping oh so far away, she looked up and whispered “Daddy” so quietly that even she didn't hear it.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 01:06 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2011-01-29 01:19 am (UTC)Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Date: 2011-01-29 01:23 am (UTC)Gabrielle
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Date: 2011-01-29 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 06:10 pm (UTC)Re: MCE 4
Date: 2011-01-29 06:02 pm (UTC)Oh good, I was hoping someone would notice it goes back to the beginning. Yeah, and it would have been interesting to explore Oz's feelings, but the focus of this tale was really Dru so I didn't go there.
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Date: 2011-02-01 01:20 am (UTC)Now the first chapter makes more sense.
Nice work tying things together, even if meant Willow getting dusted.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-01 02:42 am (UTC)