After the Fall - drabble series
Oct. 10th, 2003 05:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyBecause I seem to be on a roll.
After the Fall is a post-Home drabble series featuring Angel, Wesley, Connor, Cordy, Lilah, and most recently Fred (Gunn and Lorne will worm their way back in when the story gets to them).
The 'canon' only goes up to Home - anything after that isn't included.
Parts One through Fifteen are all here.
These sections feature Connor, Fred, Cordelia and Wesley.
Desiderata
Bare Bones
He'd gone looking for Cordelia and had found Angel by accident.
He still didn't remember most of his past life, but he'd have known that scent even if he hadn't known anything else. It was death and blood, with just a hint of rotting flesh and an overlay of something like his own scent but centuries older. A sense-memory intruded, reminding him that he'd known Angel by smell when he'd first come to this dimension.
The lost part of him whispered words he'd never gotten to say and the rest of him ignored it, too used to the weak, nameless child to even be bothered by its whimpers.
There was so much pain and loss associated with the thought of his 'father'. Too many horrible memories that he could almost, but not quite, put his finger on.
He stripped away the shell of Casey, who was too weak for this, and pushed away the whispers of Connor, who was too broken, and let the strength of the Destroyer control the search.
The vampire would be used first as a means to an end. Once initial contact had been established with the woman, he could return to further investigate the monster.
~fade to black~
Confession
"You have a son?" Fred asked. She wasn't surprised when Angel didn't answer, since it was the third time she'd repeated the question. "You have a son."
She exhaled sharply, hoping her brain would start working again soon. There was shock, and yes, there was the anger, and there was also this terrible sense of loss that felt like it didn't belong to her. A loss that she didn't have the right to feel.
"That's who Connor was," she said quietly. "The Connor that you went to go see. The one we didn't know."
"Connor was… is my son," Angel confirmed. Fred looked up to meet Angel's eyes. How could she have avoided noticing how much colder they were now? She shivered.
"You weren't ever going to tell us about it?" she asked, rubbing her arms. "Those were our memories, Angel. We had the right to keep them."
"You didn't know Connor," Angel said softly. "None of you understood what he'd gone through. He had the right to a real life, Fred. And because I was his father, he never even had a chance. He was hunted before he was even born. Stolen before…"
She'd never seen Angel like this.
~fade to black~
Observation
Boxed
An hour and quite a few insults later, Lilah was still there, being annoying with her very existence.
"Don't you have a job?" Cordelia asked in annoyance. "Shoo. Go and be threatened by Angel. You can moon at Wesley while you're there."
Lilah just raised an eyebrow and settled herself in her chair. "I have as long as this takes."
"Right, because you're all corpse-y and gross," Cordelia said, wrinkling her nose. "Ick. You know, you might want to look into getting a stronger perfume, because rotting flesh is not the scent that'll win you anyone's love."
"The sooner you say something useful, the sooner I can leave," Lilah said, the very irritating picture of calm.
Cordelia shrugged. "I remember killing you. I remember being mildly evil. That's about it." She'd never been able to lie this well before, but it mattered more now.
There had to be a way out of here and to Angel and Wes.
And Connor.
"We both know that that isn't true," Lilah said patiently.
"Well, if you know, then why don't you tell me?" Cordelia asked. She gave Lilah a scornful look. "We both know that if you had anything, you'd be using it."
~fade to black~
Off-Center
Wesley absently straightened the papers on his desk, still thinking over his most recent discovery.
He'd almost hit on the name to the boy - something Irish, which implied a relationship to Angel in any case. He wanted to say familial, but as far as the Watcher's Library knew, Angel had murdered all his family after he'd been turned. Still, it wouldn't have been the first time that the Library had been wrong.
In fact, after speaking with Angel on the subject, the Library had been wrong nearly as often as it had been right.
It was time to bring in an outside opinion. Angel was, for obvious reasons, out of the question. Fred was already prepared to bolt - if he brought this to her, she might just slip away. Lorne was out of town, possibly on business, though it could be hard to tell with Lorne. Business was often pleasure for him.
Which left him with Gunn as the only viable option.
Wesley nodded to himself and pressed a button on his phone, requesting Gunn's presence as soon as it was convenient.
It wasn't as if there were any great need to hurry on this matter, after all.
~fade to black~
After the Fall is a post-Home drabble series featuring Angel, Wesley, Connor, Cordy, Lilah, and most recently Fred (Gunn and Lorne will worm their way back in when the story gets to them).
The 'canon' only goes up to Home - anything after that isn't included.
Parts One through Fifteen are all here.
These sections feature Connor, Fred, Cordelia and Wesley.
Bare Bones
He'd gone looking for Cordelia and had found Angel by accident.
He still didn't remember most of his past life, but he'd have known that scent even if he hadn't known anything else. It was death and blood, with just a hint of rotting flesh and an overlay of something like his own scent but centuries older. A sense-memory intruded, reminding him that he'd known Angel by smell when he'd first come to this dimension.
The lost part of him whispered words he'd never gotten to say and the rest of him ignored it, too used to the weak, nameless child to even be bothered by its whimpers.
There was so much pain and loss associated with the thought of his 'father'. Too many horrible memories that he could almost, but not quite, put his finger on.
He stripped away the shell of Casey, who was too weak for this, and pushed away the whispers of Connor, who was too broken, and let the strength of the Destroyer control the search.
The vampire would be used first as a means to an end. Once initial contact had been established with the woman, he could return to further investigate the monster.
~fade to black~
Confession
"You have a son?" Fred asked. She wasn't surprised when Angel didn't answer, since it was the third time she'd repeated the question. "You have a son."
She exhaled sharply, hoping her brain would start working again soon. There was shock, and yes, there was the anger, and there was also this terrible sense of loss that felt like it didn't belong to her. A loss that she didn't have the right to feel.
"That's who Connor was," she said quietly. "The Connor that you went to go see. The one we didn't know."
"Connor was… is my son," Angel confirmed. Fred looked up to meet Angel's eyes. How could she have avoided noticing how much colder they were now? She shivered.
"You weren't ever going to tell us about it?" she asked, rubbing her arms. "Those were our memories, Angel. We had the right to keep them."
"You didn't know Connor," Angel said softly. "None of you understood what he'd gone through. He had the right to a real life, Fred. And because I was his father, he never even had a chance. He was hunted before he was even born. Stolen before…"
She'd never seen Angel like this.
~fade to black~
Boxed
An hour and quite a few insults later, Lilah was still there, being annoying with her very existence.
"Don't you have a job?" Cordelia asked in annoyance. "Shoo. Go and be threatened by Angel. You can moon at Wesley while you're there."
Lilah just raised an eyebrow and settled herself in her chair. "I have as long as this takes."
"Right, because you're all corpse-y and gross," Cordelia said, wrinkling her nose. "Ick. You know, you might want to look into getting a stronger perfume, because rotting flesh is not the scent that'll win you anyone's love."
"The sooner you say something useful, the sooner I can leave," Lilah said, the very irritating picture of calm.
Cordelia shrugged. "I remember killing you. I remember being mildly evil. That's about it." She'd never been able to lie this well before, but it mattered more now.
There had to be a way out of here and to Angel and Wes.
And Connor.
"We both know that that isn't true," Lilah said patiently.
"Well, if you know, then why don't you tell me?" Cordelia asked. She gave Lilah a scornful look. "We both know that if you had anything, you'd be using it."
~fade to black~
Off-Center
Wesley absently straightened the papers on his desk, still thinking over his most recent discovery.
He'd almost hit on the name to the boy - something Irish, which implied a relationship to Angel in any case. He wanted to say familial, but as far as the Watcher's Library knew, Angel had murdered all his family after he'd been turned. Still, it wouldn't have been the first time that the Library had been wrong.
In fact, after speaking with Angel on the subject, the Library had been wrong nearly as often as it had been right.
It was time to bring in an outside opinion. Angel was, for obvious reasons, out of the question. Fred was already prepared to bolt - if he brought this to her, she might just slip away. Lorne was out of town, possibly on business, though it could be hard to tell with Lorne. Business was often pleasure for him.
Which left him with Gunn as the only viable option.
Wesley nodded to himself and pressed a button on his phone, requesting Gunn's presence as soon as it was convenient.
It wasn't as if there were any great need to hurry on this matter, after all.
~fade to black~
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Date: 2003-10-10 12:48 pm (UTC)And thank you. Really glad that you're liking the series.