(no subject)

The moment we stepped into the warehouse, the stench was overpowering. This went beyond any stall I had mucked in Pylea, or any demon that I had come across since meeting Angel. Of course there had been demons before Angel too, he just seemed to always find the more...aromatic ones. But this? This was different than even any of those.


It was death and decay and dissapointment...and I could feel it seeping into my skin.

"Yeah, this place seriously gives me the creeps."

"That and a few other things," I murmered as the stench grew in propotion with our steps.

But no....not a few things Fred. One thing. You are here for just one thing. We turned a corner and just past the sliver of light my flashlight cast I would see a mound of - of something that overtook the entire space.

My steps quickened even as I heard a noise echo behind me. There was a large crash and I moved to turn but as I did the light from my flashlight arched, curving directly towards what I could now see was the Beast's body. Shouts, odd grunts and other unidentified sounds skipped in the background...and even though I head them?

I didn't hear them.

I moved my flashlight from hand to hand, lifting it high and then low but no matter where I placed its source the light's destination was always the same. Always it would curve and dip, fighting through the dark like a monotone rainbow....colored only by my thoughts as the last piece of the puzzle clicked.

Shifted.

Clicked and shifted and moved right to the center of the room, where centered in a pool of hazy distortion...past and through the body of something long since rotted...sat hope.

Tucking my flashlight under my arm I tossed the bag I still carried to the ground. I landed just next to it as I dropped to my knees to study the problem before me. Without thinking I sucked in a breath, and a heavy burst of decomposing air pulled through my nose and filled my lungs. Choking I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth to fight the involutary gag before finally fighting back to breathe evenly...just through my mouth.

Sprawled on the ground before me, the Beast looked somehow even more overwhelming than I remembered...and then still so little as to not matter at all. From limb to limb, dead and unmoving he seemed even more massive. But also rotted through....to be more exact from the inside out. Skin was still stretched taunt againt its massive body, eyes open and unmoving. Nothing yet eaten away by time ... or whatever had taken up residence in this building.

The beast was dying - experiencing death - in reverse. I tried to lift the flashlight higher to see better, but all the light was being ripped away right in front of me. Though......

I could just make out the sillohette of a thin pointed object.

"Guys! Flashlights would be helpful right now," I said out into the room, not bothering to turn around. Reaching for the blackened sliver of...something...I pulled it close to me and studied it as best I could. Roughly hewn it didn't seem important until another beam of light briefly flashed before it too was swallowed.

But it was enough to see the small pool of liquid pooling from the Beast's shoulder, now hardened on the stone. Dropping my own flashlight entirely I reached around to find a jagged hole that ripped through the Beast's back.

Someone....something had attacked the Beast with what I now held in my hand. Someone had killed him with it. I pulled back up to rock back and rest on my heels as my thoughts reeled.

Angelus never could finish.....the Beast breaking a part....light.....the sun is in a box...shift....sun....never could finsih....

"Yes," the sound pulled from the back of my throat strong and sure as I lifted up and plunged the strange weapon directly into the Beast's chest. It sank in halfway before I tugged towards me fiercely, cuting down in a jagged line. All that death and rot from inside immediately began to pour out of the Beast, slaking across my hands and pooling at my knees. It must have been horrible, and it must have smelled....but I didn't feel a thing. I didn't feel anything but --

THIS.

Ripping the circular crystal free I stood excitedly, spinning to face Gwen and Kate who stood just behind me.

"Look," I whispered. "Look...." Was that all I was able to say? I held the dark stone out between us in the small circle that had somehow been formed, and silently they each reached out one hand to touch our discovery.

Our eyes all met.

As one we nodded.

And then , also as one, we sent the crystal hurtling towards the ground. The pieces skipped aross our feet landing this way and that, the last sound before the silence.

And after the silence?

Came the light.

It poured through the dingy windows just over our head, battling to be seen through decades of grime and neglect. It was just the most muted, tiniest of slievers really. But I swear....


It was the brightest thing I had even seen.

I walked to the window, centering myself with the light as I gazed up into the soft color.

"Look," I whispered again. It really was all I could say. "Angel," my voice was hushed even more. "Angel look..."

I closed my eyes and for just one small moment I let myself remember, before gazing at that light once more. And grinning....am I grinning?

"Here comes the sun," the words sing-songed softly.