"Immortal Beloved..." CXXXVII...

PG-13

Disclaimer: If ya are fan-fic writers, where's your disclaimers? Disclaimers? We ain't got no disclaimers...I don' need to show you no stinkin'...No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!

It's all yours and ME's...

Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...

Summary: Though the standard IB format, one of (137) versions of events following the end of Angel S5 episodes from "Girl in Question" through to "Not Fade Away" and beyond...

Archived (soon) at the 'Normal' Buffyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse at -https://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/index.html , scroll down to "Immortal Beloved" series...

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"Shall I cry for you, guys..." mocking tone... "Big tears for my poor beloved vamps?..."

"So she's the First?..." Angel looked over to William...Wrenching at the chain collar holding his head...

"That's her..." Will nodded...

"Or maybe I'm the real deal...Ashamed of the two you Undead filth polluting me..." sneer... "Glad to help out old enemies just to be rid of you both...Lovers..." smile...

"She's a hair chunkier than ours..." Angel noted...

Blink...What...?

"I'd have to agree..." Will, thoughtfully looking her over...She in rather elegant, though tasteful, coat, blouse, and slacks...

"I'm exactly...F-you two creeps!!!..." raging fume...Red face... "Enjoy yourselves, losers...The dawn cometh..."

"Losers, eh?..." Will grinned... "I dunno...We were outnumbered 4000- to-1 at the start and even with Illyria and young Gunn out to get him to the hospital, the odds are still about the same...I'd say we done a souled vamp's job..."

"And you've 'conquered' what?...Two blocks of LA?..." Angel added... "Choice blocks, I grant you...But your Partners already owned most of it..."

"The first step on my...Er, our..." nervous glance to Mr. Joseph and the other Senior Partners frowning a bit at her presumption... "March to victory..."

"Looks more like Hitler's march to Stalingrad..." Will noted... "Hell, the US military hasn't even moved in yet and half of your guys won't survive the dawn...The rest are mostly busy eating each other..."

Did he have to bring up that damned city?...Dolf, the Second Partner, standing next to Joseph, sighed... Fine, I shouldn't have gone for the Caucasus and the Volga at once...

"Not to mention..." Angel began...

"Buffy....And her Slayers...?" resumed mocking sneer... "You aren't telling me you still think she's coming for you?...To rescue your pointy-haired little head...And make the world safe for more of the worst poetry ever written?..."

"I rather liked 'To Cicely' if you must know..." Angel replied...

Why, Angel...Will started...Trying to look over...

"What?..." sneer dropped...Head shake...

"I'm no expert...But I thought it was nice..."

"Geesh...Now I really can kill you with a light heart...You deserve to die..."

"Whatever...As for Buffy, I'm not expecting her now..." Angel, unable to resist a quick glance over the heads...Or whatever rested highest on the demon bodies...Of the horde surrounding them...He and Will chained and strapped to large poles on a raised platform... "...But when she gets word, she be on her way...If there's anything left of you folks to mop up..."

"But not for you!!!...For neither of you!!!..." raging voice...

"She didn't know..." Will nodded... "It's cool...We're fine..."

"Oh, come on..." narrow look... "You think Andrew Wells could have resisted telling her for thirty seconds when he got back?..."

"Lady...I don't know..." Will sighed... "But however it was with her...It's fine with me..."

"Right..." sneer... "You've moved on...Like she has..."

"Nah..." Will shook his head... "That was nonsense...I'll always love her...But it's fine...I love her, that all that matters...She's not obliged to love me..."

"And I...' Angel began...

"...'Have a girlfriend', we know...Too bad she's a dog...Probably in heat with some other guy right now..."

"Wolf..." Angel corrected...

"Idiot...!...Idiots, the two of you...You die for nothing!!...Nothing!!!..."

"Not at all..." Will smiled... "We're dying as heroes...Souled...Tickets to Redemption City stamped and our families proudly waiting..."

"Who?...Your dead vamp mother, you wuss freak?!!..."

"Indeed...It'll be great to see Mum again...God, if my soul had sunk down to despair in Spike I might never have had the chance...And there'll be a few good friends, I'll be glad to see...And I'm sure a lot of wonderful people to meet..."

"You've gotta come over to meet my family..." Angel noted... "My dad's a bit stiff but Heaven has probably unbent him...And my mother's just a angel...And we're talking ole Irish hospitality...Including the best porter in the universe...We O'Connors were famous for it..."

"A pleasure, indeed...Many thanks...And you've got to visit with us...Mum will be pleased that I finally did acquire a brother at last..."

"Why, many thanks, Will..."

"Just no hugs in front of her...Victorian London you know..."

"Pardon me for interruptin' this tender, gay moment..." fuming voice... "But maybe there is no Heaven..."

"Sure there is..." Will grinned... "You prove it by coming in from Hell...Besides, our souls have some sensation of it...But look here, girl..." he eyed her angry face... "Don't you ever ask yourself, what am I doin' this for?...Seems to me you don't get much out of all this..."

"What...I...I triumph over souls every day..."

"As vapid mist?...Hell, even as Spike and Angelus we had more fun...Don't you ever wish for more, lass?..."

"Does seem like kinda pointless..." Angel agreed...

"The joy of watching you fry is all the pleasure I need!!!..." she glared...

"Fine then..." Will smiled... "Go nuts...So, Angel...You think your family's got a place like the ole manor Angelus used to tell me about?..."

"I'm sure of it..." Angel nodded...

"She won't come!!!..." scream... "Guards!!!...Make them suffer!!!!..."

Does seem a bit...Hollow...This one... Joseph sighed, watching...Looking at his watch...

Half or more of our army from Hell thrown away and they're right...We can't even stay past the dawn...

Oh, well...Evil triumphs again...The usual, transitory way...

Whoopie...

Demon guards approached the two with various implements of torture...Clumsily removing them from sachels and boxes...One hulking yellow mass of rotted tissue looking round for the instructions to his set...

"Come on, come on!!!...It's dawn in fifteen minutes...!!"

"Ma'am..." one guard hissed... "It'll take twenty minutes to properly heat the irons..."

"Smash their feet, flay their flesh...Anything...!!..."

Hmmn...William eyed the demon setting to work...

"You know, Angel...I think we're in that state badly wounded soldiers go through...You know, where the shock keeps them from feeling anything..."

"I'd say so..." Angel nodded as a demon hacked at his foot with an ax...

"What are you talking about?..." the First looked at them... "This is hideous torture...You, flay harder!!!..." she shook an incorporeal fist at a guard who sighed and attempted to comply...

"There's many a famous account of it, girl..." Will noted... "But if you like, just say God or our mums just kindly decided to make our last moments easy...Say, Angel...You know what I'm really pleased about, I mean what with the soul recovery and all?..."

"What's that?..."

"Christmas...I can enjoy it again...The right way I mean, not via tormenting poor folks...Not that I mean to step on anyone's religious toes here..." he looked over the horde...

"Thank you, that's nice of you..." the guard flaying his right leg paused to look up...

"Don't mention it...You know what I mean, Angel?...It was such a great time when I was a lad..."

"Best time of the year...Even as Angelus it was my favorite time..."

"Which you hideously profaned...!!!" scream in his face... "Shame on your evil existence...!!"

"Uh-huh...Angelus was a monster...But, anyway...You're right Will...And we'll be with the families this year for Christmas...I wonder if I can get Connor and Nina to do a seance..."

"You could still live!!!..." she tried... "William...I could be Buffy for you...We could do our own viciously merry Christmas..." She took on a new outfit, a Santa suit...

"Cute...But no, thanks..." he smiled pleasantly... "I'm not into an incorporeally Evil relationship..."

"You could pledge yourselves to Evil again and my Partners could turn her Evil...You could help..." desperation in voice... "She could still be yours..."

"Buffy?...Please...Angel, how's about a carol...You know I always loved 'Good King Wenceslas'...You know a carol about a good man doing good in the world..."

"One of my favorites..." Angel nodded...

"He had the peasant flogged to death for stealing wood!!..." she cried... "You idiot, William...I'm offering you a chance here...Angel...?"

"Good King Wenceslas looked out...On the Feast of Stephen..."

"While the snow lay round about ...Deep and crisp and even..."

Sentient members of demon horde starting to join in...To the Partners' startled rage...

"Brightly shone the moon that night,,,Though the frost was cruel...

When a poor man came in sight...Gath'ring winter fuel..."

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