One Vial - Part One
Universe: Buffyverse
Timeline: almost immediately following Angel & Faith issue #3
Rating: PG? (I never know what to rate these things, but there is no sex or cursing in this fic.)
Characters: Faith, Angel, mentions of Pearl and Nash
Warnings: Lots of Angel & Faith spoilers and sososososo much angst
Words: 716
A/N: I may turn am turning this into a multi-chaptered Fangel fic that veers off of canon. I just needed to write this oneshot for now to hold me over until #4. :) Also, salvage_5x5 deserves some of the credit for this idea. I think she mentioned something similar potentially happening in one of our conversations about #3.
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One vial. That was all that was left.
One vial that would end Angel’s inner torment one way or another.
Looking at him now, beaten and bruised and bloodied to the pulp, her decision was clear.
He may heal quickly as a vampire, but she’d never seen him this bad off. What had been done to him earlier in the night was far worse than anything she’d ever seen. If he was anything other than a 200-something-year-old vampire, he would have given way hours ago. No human-or even slayer-would have survived the vindictive torture Nash performed on Angel while Pearl held Faith back.
She was surprised that she wasn’t touched, but she guessed that they had no real beef with her. Angel was the one to betray them and they seemed to be on a mission of their own, only stopping for him for revenge. She also didn’t know why they decided to leave her with this one vial. Maybe they wanted him human?
That was almost enough reason not to do it.
She could just let the healing process run its course-which would take days at least, she was sure of it. Once he was back to his normal broody-with-a-cause self, they could continue the impossible quest of resurrecting a human who died a natural death in a magic-less world, saving this one little vial for a day that would most likely never come. And if it did, according to Giles’ old friend, it would most likely cause more harm than good.
Or she could just give Angel a fresh start. Right now, as she was carrying him back home, she could take that vial and pour it over his wounds. Make him human. Make the demon-the monster-the vampire inside go away. Relieve his internal and external pain.
As much as she wanted to, she knew he wouldn’t be happy with her. Maybe she could tell him that it was her only option? That he would have died otherwise? The thing about Angel is that he actually would rather die than finally be happy. And she wasn’t too sure that him being human would change that.
When they got back to Giles’ place, there was no way she was making it up the stairs with him in her arms in the heels she’d reluctantly put on earlier, so she gently set him on the couch. Even though he was the walking dead, he’d never seemed so much like a corpse as he did now. There was nothing other than the fact he wasn’t a big pile of dust that would lead anyone to believe that he wasn’t actually dead. He was covered in burn marks, cuts, bruises, and blood. None of the flesh she could see was its usual ivory.
Seeing him lying in front of her in this state is what did it. This was her only chance. He couldn’t protest. He wouldn’t have to know why, or even if, she was the one to do it. His last memories were of lying on the floor at that auction, where there was spilt blood all over the place anyways. That could be how it happened.
When she slowly poured the glowing green contents of the vial over his wounds, she wasn’t expecting the bright flash of light that illuminated the entire house as the liquid traveled through his veins. The change didn’t wake him, but the gasp he let out as soon as the light dimmed led her believe it worked. He was able to breathe as a vampire though, so she had to check the only thing that could make her positive he was human.
Faith unbuttoned his tattered vest and shirt and placed her palm over his heart. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt the strong pulse against her hand. It was so unbelievable that it had actually worked that she placed her ear to the now warm skin, getting lost in the steady rhythm that was his heartbeat.
“Faith?” she heard out of the other ear. Angel’s voice was soft, raspy, and confused.
She had some explaining to do, but right now, all that mattered to her was savoring the warm chest below her until he inevitably shut her out for what she’d done.
continued here