Alternatives
Chapter 24
Rating:NC17 to be safe
Spoilers: All of it. Even the crappy bits.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but that which I create. All else belongs to people who can sue/excommunicate/execute me if I don’t write this.
Disclaimer #2: I am going to mess about with the ideas of religion in this fic, this is not intended to offend anyone, or contradict anyone’s beliefs, but it’s necessary for the story. I apologise in advance for any offence taken.
Feedback: Send all constructive comments to
rmmik@hotmail.com (please put something like “Re: your fic” in the subject, otherwise I’ll bin it). Send all abuse to someone else.
All hell broke loose. Sirens blared over the fading note emanating from the Bell. People sprinted into the building, looking around to see who was missing, then, once they realised, waiting quietly for instruction.
After a moment Luc reappeared, tears racing down his bloodstained face. When he spoke, however, it was with icy control.
“Kel,”
The former angel looked up.
“It’s the Watchers.”
She looked back momentarily with a terrible blankness in her eyes and turned to the assembled throng.
“Arm up.”
Luc strode to a large cupboard against the far wall and opened it, revealing a massive arsenal of semi-automatic machine guns. He passed each person a weapon and they checked and loaded it with military precision. The Scoobies marvelled at the ease with which each person handled their gun. They had no time to ask questions, however, as the last person was handed their firearm and the room shimmered out of being.
Quentin Travers bent over the limp form of the woman and inspected her. Satisfied that she was dead, he turned back to the wet team accompanying him.
“Good work. We’ll proceed to the village and destroy the other targets, then return – “
Behind him, a voice spoke angrily.
“Quentin, what have you done?”
He turned slowly and saw Rupert Giles, accompanied by the two Slayers and the civilians. He ignored them, however and focused on Kel.
“I’m here to destroy an abomination,” he said.
Kel looked at the bodies of her sister-in-law and daughter with detached interest. A terrible calm had settled in her mind as she realised that this wasn’t a random attack. The Metatron had warned her that the Authority would send human agents. She could hear a low buzzing in her ears. Vaguely, she registered that the Watcher was speaking again.
“The Slayers will return with us for assessment and retraining, if it’s possible to break her hold on them. The civilians will be returned to the Hellmouth. We must take the witches and their…offspring for testing. God only knows what they are,” Travers said with disgust.
“Abomination?” Kel said softly, not realising her accent had lost all trace of Gaelic and was back to the clipped control that made her sound remarkable like her father.
“I’m the abomination? You’ve just murdered a child.”
Her voice was mild, as though genuinely interested in the distinction. Her thoughts seemed to float across her mind as she watched.
She’s just a little child. A little human child, barely born. She wasn’t part of this. All this, just because I love her? All this to warn me off saving these humans?The choice the Authority was presenting was clear. She could save Tara, save the world, change the Plan, but she would lose her family. Again.
The air began to thicken and press in. Massive clouds built up, obscuring the sun and plunging them into semi-darkness. The trees around them seemed to tower maliciously, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The humans looked around fearfully, but Kel stood, oblivious, watching the bodies with that same disinterested curiosity.
Luc chose that moment to reappear, his son in tow. Cain looked at his mother’s body for a moment, closed his eyes and morphed. His forehead sprouted dangerous-looking horns, his incisors descended to below his jaw line and his hands became clawed appendages well suited to tearing flesh. His skin was a mottled grey and his hair the colour of old blood. He let out a soft keening that rose into a murderous howl and dived for the Watchers, only to rebound against an invisible force.
“Kel, you’ve got to revive them!” Luc urged her, his voice frantic.
Revive them? It was possible, of course. Heal their bodies, retrieve their spiritual being and reintegrate the two. But it was forbidden, and she’d broken so many rules already. The prospect of further intervention was unpleasant. Distantly, she heard Luc’s voice again.
“Kel please! Listen! Eliza’s pregnant!”
Kel looked at the corpse, noting the dark stain spreading across the seat of her jeans.
“Was pregnant,” she corrected, only a second before the Bell tolled out a third mournful note.
The sound rolled through the fog in her mind, enabling her to focus her thoughts.
My child is dead. My brother’s wife is dead. My brother’s child is dead.
Screw the rules.Thunder broke suddenly, hammering into the ground, followed immediately by a thin, high wind that screamed fury at the heavens and seemed to push the world apart. The trees nearby seemed to stagger back, leaving them in a large clearing. Kel took a step forward, looked up at the sky, and spoke.
“Do your worst. I’m in the game.”
She lifted a clenched fist above her head. From behind trees, bushes and rocks the heavily armed villagers emerged, training laser sights on the forehead, throat, stomach, groin and knees of each member of the Watcher group.
“You expect me to be impressed?” Snarled Travers. One of his men tried to raise their own rifle. There was a muffled burst of gunfire and suddenly he was disarmed, his weapon full of holes and on the ground.
“This isn’t about you, Watcher. You’re a message.”
Kel spoke with her true voice, regal and deadly and absolute. She opened her hand and each gun pointed at the Watchers was cocked.
“You’re bluffing,” Travers said, but with less than his usual arrogance.
Kel smiled like a knife, and lowered her arm. The guns fired.
Ruth
"And beyond the Wild Wood?" asked the Mole.
"The Wide World," said the Rat. "And that doesn't matter."
