Fic- Memories of the Unreal
Apr. 18th, 2012 03:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessTitle -- Memories of the Unreal
Author--![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness
Disclaimer -- Joss Whedon owns them. I just get to do some transformative play time.
Rating -- Teen
Characters/Pairing -- gen, Connor pov, very vague hints of Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Spike and attraction between Connor/Dawn
Timeline/Spoilers -- Post series/ no comics AR
Word Count -- 5,498
Warning -- nothing that couldn’t have been seen on the show
Summary -- Connor has finally found someone who knows what it’s like to have a head filled with fake memories.
Author’s Note -- Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
cya_ficathon 2012 for the prompt ‘I'd love fic about Wes/Lilah or Connor/Dawn. I'll enjoy anything about Wes/Lilah. I'd be interested in post-series Connor/Dawn and the issues surrounding having constructed memories’. This is the longest Whedonverse story I’ve done in ages. It is alternative reality, mostly because I don’t really know the comics well and I didn’t want to see half of Team Angel dead. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta.
XXX
Connor wanted to sit in on the meeting, but his dad was still being all weird about him being involved in the monster fighting. He didn’t get it. It wasn’t like he had that much trouble helping his dad and the others save the whole city from the forces of Black Thorn. He was raised in a hell dimension – and now he remembered it clearly but with enough distance to stay sane – so what was Angel worried about? At least he was giving Angel credit for being worried and not controlling, though in the back of his head, Connor sort of thought that, too. Surely he had earned the right to be in there with the team as they talked to the Slayers. Maybe Faith was there. The idea made him grin.
“Wow, this place is big,” a feminine voice said behind him. Connor twisted on the well-used couch to see a woman just a little younger than him. “And kind of run down, no offense.”
“It’s a dump. The hotel Dad was living in didn’t survive the battle. He likes big old places.” Connor stared up at the ceiling, which he wasn’t so sure was as sturdy as it should be. “Has a huge basement so that’s a plus for him and Spike.”
She nodded knowingly. "You're Connor, right?" She dropped into a chair next to him.
"Guessing you heard about me."
"Not until now, actually. My sister was not a bundle of fun driving here." Her nose crinkled up. "I'm Dawn Summers by the way, Buffy's sister."
"Ah, one of the Slayers. Yeah Dad didn't tell me about her either until he got the call from her about the latest big bad." Connor rolled his eyes. “From what he was telling me about her, this is information I needed to know a while back, but Dad's good at telling me nothing, like I'm a child."
Dawn snorted. "Boy, does that sound familiar."
"Do you fight, too?" Connor cast an eye over her. She was pretty, slender, though. She didn't look like a fighter but then again, if she were a Slayer, he knew that didn't mean anything. For that matter, he didn't look like much, either.
Shaking her head, Dawn said. "I'm more research girl, though Willow's been showing me a little magic."
Connor made a face.
"You don't like magic?" She looked surprised.
"I used to think it really messed things up and it did." Connor shrugged. "But Willow did some pretty cool stuff, and it's hard to deny the magic Dad had done to me to rewrite all my memories worked. For a while, at least, until more magic messed it up."
Dawn's brow wrinkled and her eyes took on a strange gleam. "Rewritten memories?"
He grimaced. He should have kept his big mouth shut. "Long story. Come on, I don't want to just sit out here, excluded, do you?"
"Buffy will tell you I rarely listen, but about the memories-"
Connor held up a hand. "I'll tell you later. Did Faith come with you guys?"
"No, she's on another mission. Xander is with her and Kennedy, another Slayer." Dawn shrugged. "I guess you know Faith."
"Yeah, she was interesting." Faith hadn't taken him seriously enough, but still he had liked her. A strange emotion veiled Dawn's face, but he wasn't sure he was skilled enough at reading expressions to guess at it, tinkered memories aside. Women were confusing. "Come on, they’re down this way."
He led her down the hall to where Angel, Buffy, and the others were holding their meeting. The room had a huge marble fireplace that even he knew had to have been beautiful at once time. It would have been prettier without his father hulking in front of it.
Buffy paced between Angel and Spike who lounged against the wall like he was bored. Illyria stood next to him, something Connor noticed she did often. Wes and Gunn were sitting next to Willow and another guy - Giles was it? – on the couches. A young redheaded girl sat next to Giles but Connor didn’t know her. The conversation died when they walked in.
“I’m not going to sit on the sidelines, Angel,” Connor announced.
“Don’t you have a test to be studying for?” His father scowled.
Connor waved him off. “I’m better with this and you know it.”
“And you don’t normally exclude me, Buffy,” Dawn put in.
“Let them stay,” Spike said and Buffy shot him a dark look. “But you shouldn’t complain at being protected, Li’l Bit.”
Dawn cross her arms. “I’m not, but I’m good at being research girl and you know it.”
“I see you don’t care about me being protected.” Connor smirked.
“You’re a right little monster.” Spike snorted. “And probably just as rubbish at being normal as me and your old man.”
“Spike,” Angel hissed.
“He’s probably right.” Connor shrugged.
“Fine. Stay.” Angel turned to Buffy. “So, you were saying?”
“A cult, one of the End of Days type. We tracked them to L.A. and to Wolfram and Hart.” Her lips pulled down, her fingers curling into fists. “We thought for a time we’d have to fight you.”
“We were working with Wolfram and Hart more to stop them than to promote their causes,” Wesley protested, wincing as if he realized how lame that sounded.
“That’s not really what Andrew said,” Buffy replied.
“Why would you listen to anything that wanker would say?” Spike pushed off the wall, crossing the room to stand by Angel in front of the fireplace.
“I keep asking that,” Dawn said and her sister glared. “What? He tried to kill me and Xander with a sword.”
Sighing, Buffy turned back to Angel, ignoring her sister. “Anyhow, we got word of how you stopped Black Thorn and realized you hadn’t gone over to the other side.”
“Thanks,” Spike grumbled.
“With the near complete decimation of the Watcher’s Council, and the few left being spread thin trying to counsel all the new Slayers, it seemed prudent to get all the help we could to find this cult,” Giles said, adjusting his glasses. “We’ve also lost a lot of our books and other records, thanks to the First Evil.”
“Unfortunately, so were much of Wolfram and Hart’s archives,” Wesley replied.
“We lucked out. There was a retired Watcher’s consultant here in LA, a feisty old woman who braved those first days, and she recovered at least some of those books,” Giles said and Wes’s face brightened. “We will be able to look at what she took. She’s willing to turn it over to me once we’re done here. I thought that Dawn and I could go do some of the research.” He turned to look at Wesley. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to do that or if you had other contacts.”
“Illyria and I could check out some of our local sources.” Wesley nodded.
“Gunn can go with Buffy and…your name again? I’m sorry.” Angel waved a hand at the redheaded girl sitting next to Giles.
“Kiera,” she replied and Connor didn’t miss Angel’s eyes lighting up at her Irish accent. It had better be the accent and not him being an old perv.
“Kiera. Spike and I can join you after dark,” Angel said. “Willow, what about you?”
“I can go with Fred, uh Illyria! And Wes. We made a good team in the past,” she replied brightly but Illyria’s face remained as passive as ever.
“Connor, since you want in on this, you can help Dawn and Giles,” Angel said.
“What the hell? I’m not research guy!” he whined, knowing he sounded like a petulant brat.
“You are now,” Angel reminded him of all the new bells and whistles crammed into his head.
“Fine, but I haven’t forgotten everything from Quor-Toth, you know.” Connor tapped his forehead. “It’s all up here with the new memories.”
“Did he say Quor-Toth?” Giles blinked rapidly behind his glasses.
“You know about it?” Angel looked surprised.
“What’s Quor-Toth?” Buffy’s gaze swiveled between Giles and Angel.
“Hell dimension. I was raised there.” Connor shrugged.
“No one mentioned hell dimensions.” Buffy took a small step toward Dawn. If her glare had been wooden stakes, Connor would have dust where his father stood.
“It’s a long story.” Angel turned an equally fiery glower on Connor.
“Fine. I’ll help Dawn,” Connor said before Angel could start lecturing. “And if Angel would just tell people things we need to know, there’d be a lot less misunderstandings, Buffy. Dad likes to lie by omission which is why he didn’t tell you about Quor-Toth,” Connor said and his father shot him a crushed look. Still, Connor couldn’t help but wonder if he would never have gone insane in the first place if he had been told everything. The truth about his mother, about Cordy. He’d never know.
“He’s not the only one,” Buffy replied darkly, glancing over at Giles. He looked away. She shook herself as if to ward off something. “All right, sounds like we’re set except for times.”
“Nettie is expecting us at nine,” Giles said.
“And whenever you ladies want to jet out, I’m with you,” Gunn added.
“I just hope someone’s good with languages. That’s not something I got in the rewiring,” Connor said, noticing the quizzical looks he got from Buffy’s crowd. Did Angel tell them nothing? Probably.
“Giles can read several languages and I’m a natural polyglot,” Dawn replied.
“Really? Are you going to be around for a while today?” Connor smiled at her.
“We still have one or two things to hammer out,” Buffy answered for her.
“Good. Dad wanted me to study. I have a French test coming up and I suck at it. Want to help me study for a while, Dawn?” Connor asked.
“Sure.”
He led her out, seeing the expressions on his dad and Buffy’s faces. Connor smirked. This could be fun.
XXX
Connor glanced into the other room where Nettie and Giles were in deep conversation then turned to Dawn. “So, technically you aren’t human?”
She shook her head, long hair swinging against her cheeks. “I was some kind of energy key to a hell dimension, but as far as we can tell, I’m human enough now.” Dawn leafed through a volume on cults so far she could barely lift it. “I don’t have any special Slayer powers or any magic other than a few easy spells Willow taught me.” Dawn shrugged. “The language ability is my superpower. It’s handy, though. I guess when the Watchers are restructured and rebuilt, I’ll join them.”
“It’ll be interesting, more interesting than anything either of my fathers have in mind for me.” Connor sighed, digging through his stack of books to find one in English. “Investment banking. How boring. Angel agrees with Dad the Third that it’s a great job. They apparently want me to die a slow, tedious death.”
“So, three dads? How does that even work?” Dawn peeked up at him. “You mentioned new memories.”
“Very long story involving two vampire parents who really screwed over a man named Holtz back in the seventeen hundreds. He managed to somehow end up in the present day, still pissed at Angel and Darla. He kidnapped me and managed to strand us in a hell dimension.”
“Quor-Toth.”
“Right. Time passed differently there. I grew up there, I’m not sure how long. I didn’t have birthdays, but only days passed here, in this world so I came back here a lot older than I should have been. It was a hard way to grow up, living in hell.” Connor paused, licking his lips. “I adjusted poorly to coming back here. No one was prepared for me to be a teenager and they didn’t handle my homecoming any better than me. It didn’t help that Holtz spent my entire life teaching me to hate and kill demons and vampires, which I turned against Angel.”
“That would make you unpopular, especially since he’s your dad.” Dawn eyed him, as if studying him for homicidal tendencies.
“I considered Holtz to be my father.” Connor flipped open the book. “I didn’t believe anything Angel said and it went downhill from there. Holtz committed suicide, making it look like Angel killed him. Getting involved with Cordy, our daughter being what she was, killing her, followed up by my splashy suicide by vampire.” The words clipped out. He didn’t want to think about it, really, but it almost felt good telling it to someone who wasn’t there and hopefully, wouldn’t judge too harshly.
Her nose wrinkled. “That’s too condensed. I’m not sure I connected all the dots. Maybe once we’re not so busy you can fill it in.” A hint of a blush kissed her cheeks. “If you want to talk about it. I can see it’s not pretty.”
“No, but I wouldn’t mind talking to you. You’d probably understand some of it.”
Dawn considered that for a minute before nodding. “So, that accounts for two of three dads, but neither of those are implanted memories, right?”
“No, that would the third dad.” Connor paused, trying to think on how to say it. “When everything went to hell and I forced Angel to kill me, he couldn’t live with that. I get that now, but at that point I was pretty much out of my head.” He looked into Dawn’s eyes, seeing understanding there. “The whole reason he and the others even went to work for Wolfram and Hart was to save me, and you can tell your sister that. She seems to have a problem with it and I know why. Believe me. Those people wanted to dissect me at one point.”
“Ew.” Dawn shuddered.
“Yeah. Anyhow, they resurrected me or spun back time, I honest do not know, but here I am, everything that made me, me had been suppressed. I had a whole new life implanted in my head. A loving mom and dad, a kid sister, ordinary, you know?”
“Completely.” Dawn sounded just a bit sad or resigned and for some reason, that made him frown a little.
“I had nothing more pressing in my mind than figuring out who to take to prom – Caitlyn Walters and it was a mistake – and trying to decide what to major in and where I’d go to college.”
“How did you remember who you were? For me, I had to sneak into Giles’s magic shop and read his Watcher Journal, which wasn’t the right thing to do, but half the time they tell me nothing!” Dawn shook her head, frowning. “That was so hard, learning it like that.”
Connor made a derisive sound. “I get that. Demons attacked my new family. At the time, I didn’t know why I thought I had to protect my family and fight those monsters, but I did and knocked them out of the park. I had no idea what was happening to me. Angel had to have been terrified when my new dad showed up with me at Wolfram and Hart for help because of those demons. Angel didn’t just alter my mind. He altered everyone who ever knew me. Wesley didn’t know what he was getting into when he tried to help. In the end, I had to fight a demon or die. I nearly died. Angel was magically barred from helping me, but Wesley had gotten curious. He tracked down the roots of it and restored all our memories.”
“Angel couldn’t be happy about that.” Dawn’s lips tugged down, looking oddly depressed by that. “He gave up a lot and I can’t imagine they were too pleased with him for it.”
“Probably not. He knew that I remembered everything, but I didn’t stay with him. I took what he gave me, which was a chance at a real life and some peace, and ran with it.”
“But you’re here now.”
“When the Black Thorn thing shook out, the End of Days, I knew I couldn’t be selfish. I helped.” Connor ran a hand through his hair. “I could have gone back to college. Well, I did, but locally. Part of me doesn’t want to be here now. I’m tired of fighting, Dawn. But how many people can do what I can?”
She reached across the stack of books and put her hand over his. “My sister says that all the time.”
“How long has she been a Slayer?”
“Since she was sixteen.”
“I started not long after I could walk. Well, not killing, but training. All of my childhood games were designed to make me a better killer. It seems to be what I am bred for.” He sighed again. “I’m not sure I can live with being ‘normal,’ knowing I could have made a difference if I had just tried.” Connor spread his hands. He’d never really put that into words before, not even for Angel. “And if I try to be normal, how do I know the demons won’t come after me again?”
“They might. I know the Slayers can sense demons, sometimes, and I think it works both ways.” Dawn offered him a faint smile. “So you have a head full of memories that never happened for nothing?”
He considered that. “Not for nothing. I’m better now. I can live in this world. I couldn’t before. I know what’s real and what’s been inserted, but I can still pull on these happier memories and they calm me down.”
“That’s good. I’m not sure I’d have any memories at all if not for the implanted ones. I’m not sure a ‘key’ would have been capable of that sort of thing. I guess I can’t hate what those monks did too much.” Dawn spread her hands. “I have a good family, good friends.”
“Dawn, have you or Connor found anything?” Giles called from the other room and Dawn flushed.
“Not yet,” she said then whispered to Connor. “We better get back to work.”
“I think we have something here.” Giles came out with Nettie. Connor had more respect for the retired Watcher’s consultant than he expected. Nettie looked to be a hundred years old and needed a cane and yet she had gone out into the nightmare after the attack of Black Thorn’s minions to salvage what she could.
“A book that mentions this cult had an interest in bringing forth the bringer of pain and torment, the Destroyer and he in turn will evoke the Devourer,” Nettie said and Connor flinched.
“That is not encouraging,” Dawn said.
“And if those should fail, they want to use this book.” Giles waved the one in his hands. “To bind the Destroyer to their will and force him to open a hell dimension.”
“I can tell you that failure already happened,” Connor said.
“Oh?” Giles peered at him intently.
“I’m the Destroyer,” Connor replied bluntly, watching their eyes widen.
“You?” Dawn poked a finger into his wiry arm, a look of disbelief in her eyes.
“The demons named me that, not the good guys,” he huffed. “I told you I was really good at killing them. The Devourer was my and Cordelia’s daughter and I killed her. That just leaves this cult’s backup plan, but I’m not sure I can open a hell dimension. Okay, I tore a hole in Quor-Toth’s dimensional walls once I got it out of the sluhks how it was done. But I don’t know any magic. I don’t even like magic.”
“You might not need it. You’re sitting right next to a dimensional key,” Dawn reminded him.
“This is not good,” Nettie said.
Connor’s head snapped around toward the apartment’s window, his brow wrinkling.
“What is it?” Dawn asked.
He put a finger to his lips, getting up. “I heard something.”
“You’re not getting paranoid, are you?” she hissed.
The shattering of glass answered her. Connor leapt between them and whatever it was coming through the window. It looked like an octopus with feathers. “Weapons?” he asked.
“Giles, the hope chest in the bed room,” Nettie said, backing up against the wall so nothing could get behind her, Connor assumed.
As Giles went back deeper into the house, Connor picked up a chair, crushing it down on one feather writhing tentacle. The thing made a high-pitched whine that threatened to burst Connor’s ear drums. The chair splintered. Connor grabbed up two chair legs, tossing one to Dawn. “Better than nothing.” He lurched forward, driving the leg through one glittering black orb he was hoping was both an eye and a soft spot. The ease the leg when into it proved him right. The thing did a skittering dance, knocking over one end table and a lamp as it died. “Easier than I-” Connor’s words were cut short as another tentacle reached through the shattered balcony door, yanking him through it.
Another of the creatures hung on the high rise apartment’s walls. It let him go, but Connor caught its tentacle, pulling hard. Too hard. He unseated the creature and they both went into free fall. Longer feathers unfurled, letting the thing glide, but Connor drove his fingers into its eyes. Its ‘wings’ folded and they dropped. He knew he could survive a fall from this height without much issue. He twisted to make sure he landed on the thing, but ended up buried in its mollusky head up to his knees.
“Ewwww.” Connor shook his head, trying to loosen his tight neck muscles. Ignoring the sticky blue blood and bile-colored viscera clinging to him, he jumped up and grabbed the nearest handhold, swarming back up the high rise. When he got to Nettie’s balcony, he saw Giles trying to hold off a man – woman? – in a cloak who seemed to be hurling magic at him. Dawn had a sword, swatting at a third tentacled thing that was trying to grab her from above.
“You move like a vampire,” she said as Connor pulled himself up over the balcony railing.
“Yeah.” Connor took the sword from her, pushing himself off the balcony after the monster. He probably should have gone for the wizard, but he didn’t know enough about how to get around magic. He skewered the tenacled minion then dropped back down onto the railing.
“You have to be the Destroyer,” the wizard said, or should he say, witch? The voice sounded female, but there was a veil over the opening of the cloak.
Connor braced for an attack, looking over at Giles. “Got anything offensive in that bag of tricks of yours?”
“I do,” Nettie’s voice said at the sliding glass door. The old woman took aim with a crossbow that had a glittering bolt of what looked like pure energy.
The witch whipped around to block it and when she was distracted, Connor leapt on her back, knocking her out with one hit. Hauling her up by her robe, Connor smiled over at Nettie. “Glad she didn’t hurt you.”
Nettie flipped a hand at him. “I’m a tough old bird. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Connor pulled the woman’s veil off to reveal a younger woman than he was expecting. Her head had been shaved and tattooed with symbols that made no sense to him but seemed to excite Giles and Nettie.
“What do we have here?” Giles came closer to examine the unconscious woman.
“You tell me. What’s the best way to restrain a witch? I really pulled my punch. I have no idea how long she’ll be out,” Connor said.
“We’ll worry about that. Bring her inside,” Giles said.
Connor dragged the woman in, acutely aware Dawn was looking at him. “What?”
“You fell eleven stories and you’re not hurt,” she said. “I’m not sure even Buffy can do that.”
He shrugged. “Guess that’s part of being half-demon.”
“That’s where the Slayer powers came from as well,” Giles said. “That and magic. You are even more unique.”
“Lucky me.”
As Giles and Nettie were dealing with the witch, a knock sounded on the door. Connor exchanged glances with Dawn.
“Better answer that,” Nettie said. “Someone might have reported the breaking glass.”
Connor nodded, wondering if the gooey dead demons would just disappear or would they have to explain them, too. He opened the door to see Buffy, Kiera and Gunn.
“Did you find…” Buffy’s eyes widened seeing the destroyed sliding glass door and a now-trussed up, gagged woman on the floor. “What the hell happened?”
“Turns out Connor and I are probably the cult’s target,” Dawn said sourly. “And I learned Connor can fall off a high-rise and not get hurt.”
Buffy blinked. “What?”
“There are a few dead demons that I’m thinking might still be lying down in the alley and we caught a witch.” Connor jerked a thumb at her. “Want me to call Angel and Spike? I know they can’t get here yet, but Dad might want to know.”
“I’ll call him,” Gunn said. “You’re a mess.”
Connor looked down at his demon-guts encrusted pants. “Big surprise. Giles, you know about witches. What do we do with her?”
The Watcher’s pale blue eyes darkened. “We make her tell us everything we need to know.”
XXX
“I should be allowed to come with you,” Dawn said. “They want to use me, well, maybe. If they know what I am.”
“And that’s all the more reason for you to stay behind,” Buffy said, folding her arms over her chest.
“We know they want Connor and he’s going,” Dawn protested.
“Yeah but I can fight. None of your fake memories gave you that,” he pointed out.
“And she would have no power behind it if they had,” Buffy said.
“That doesn’t stop Gunn or Wes or Xander.” Dawn sighed.
“I do not see why I should stay,” Illyria said.
“We need to make sure Dawn is protected if they come for her here,” Spike replied. “And besides, Blue, you don’t know the meaning of the word restraint. Buffy will not be happy if we kill all the cultists in one fell swoop.”
“They wouldn’t trouble us again if I did,” Illyria argued.
“If it helps, part of me wants to stay here, and the implanted memories only make that stronger.” Connor rested a hand on her shoulder.
“I want you to stay here,” Angel reminded him.
“They came for me last time. Might as well take the fight to them. Willow, Giles and Wes are dealing with the magic stuff. Me, you, Spike and the Slayers need to provide them with cover.” Connor shrugged. “This shouldn’t take too long.”
“This is probably overkill,” Spike agreed.
No one argued. He didn’t want the others to know, but this battle made Connor nervous. He didn’t have Angel or Spike’s practice in not hurting humans. It was hard to figure out how much of his punch to pull. One of the memories he wished had remained overwritten was the feeling of his fist going through Jasmine’s head. He never wanted to feel that again, and Connor was half afraid it could happen if he had to fight a normal human. Take away the magic and that’s all a witch or wizard was, after all.
The cultist he had captured had been dead-on with her description of where to find her fellow End of Dayers. Never underestimate how scary two vampires and some magic users could be when they were interrogating someone. The warehouse looked more like a drug flophouse than anything else. His team of White Hats burst in like something out of an action flick and Connor felt acutely embarrassed afterward. He wondered if the others felt the same since no one moved for a moment. Unrobed, the cultists were a mix, many as young as him, a few older adults and a healthy handful of the elderly. It looked more like a well tattooed shave-headed family group, but then again, wasn’t that what a lot of religious cults aimed to be?
“Vampires!” one particularly wizened woman said, raising her hand. “Holocaust na-”
Connor recognized this had to be a fire spell, but Willow hit her with a blast that knocked the old bat out cold. Several of the young men came toward him, weapons held high. “I could have been studying for a freaking French exam with a cute girl, but no, I have to be here because you jerks want to end the world. Have any idea how pissed off that makes me?”
“Don’t say pissed off,” Angel hissed, dodging a magic projectile from one of the other elderly cultists. It was easy to see who ran the group.
“Who are you people?”
“A couple vampires, a couple witches, a few Slayers and the Destroyer.” Connor thumped his chest then grimaced. Now there was a boner move, identifying himself.
“You? The Destroyer is not some skinny kid,” one of the young men laughed.
“Do we have to drag this out at all?” Connor asked.
“Hell no,” Spike replied.
Connor slapped the nearest one halfway across the room. At best estimate, it took them under five minutes to decimate the whole group. He surveyed the unconscious or moaning cultists. “Now what? It’s easier fighting vampires. All you need is a dust buster to clean up afterwards.”
“That is not funny,” Spike glowered, but Buffy snorted. The blond vampire scowled at her, too. “It was easier when Wolfram and Hart was around to take care of this sort of thing. Hey, Watcher, does your group have ways of dealing with the human element?”
“Not that currently exists, but since they were going to use a tome to invoke their end of days,” Giles said, pushing his glasses up.
“All we have to do is take that away,” Willow chirped.
“I’ll leave that to you guys. I wouldn’t know what to look for,” Connor said, going over to his father and Spike. Buffy also gravitated toward them, keeping an eye on the fallen cultists.
“He fights well,” she said to Angel.
“That was nothing,” his father replied proudly. “You’ll have to spar with him some time, Buffy.” Something flashed in his father’s eyes when he looked at the Slayer that Connor didn’t understand. He’d have to ask about it later, not that he was sure he’d get a straight answer out of his dad.
“This was kind of a let down,” Connor said. “They didn’t even have any more flying octopi.”
“I’ll take an easy fight any day,” Buffy retorted.
“Yeah, guess I shouldn’t complain, but now all I have to look forward to is studying French with your sister.” He shrugged. “Which is something I actually want to do so I’m not complaining.”
Buffy looked up at his dad. “Angel.”
Angel nodded. “We’ll talk later, Connor.”
He sure as hell hoped this wasn’t going to be some kind of sex talk though it might be amusing watching his dad stumble his way through one. Connor decided to cut his losses and went to listen to Wes and Giles discussing if the police should be brought in. After all, the cultists had broken into Nettie’s home and who knew what else they might be guilty of. Bored, Connor let his thoughts drift back to Dawn. It was interesting to have someone around who understood what it felt like to have a head full of memories that weren’t real and yet didn’t know how to live without them. It demanded more exploration.
XXX
“I wish you could stay around longer,” Connor said, sitting next to Dawn on the couch.
“Me, too. You get what it’s like,” she said, tapping her forehead and he nodded. “I want to get to know you better.”
“You guys can’t stay in L.A.?”
Dawn shook her head. “We have to track down all the activated Slayers. It’s disturbing to suddenly have these powers and the temptation to do bad things with them is huge. There are almost no Watchers left, either. There’s a lot of rebuilding to do. Too bad you can’t come with us.”
“I need to finish school. Two Dads will be disappointed if I don’t. Besides, I’m still working stuff out with Angel. Who knows, maybe I can learn something useful to you guys later. I mean, we’re both young.” Connor shrugged.
“Yeah. We were in Italy for a while and the London area was the traditional seat for the Watchers. I’m not sure if that’s where we’re going to rebuild or not.”
“Let me know. I could always do a semester aboard. That would be fun.” He smiled.
Dawn echoed it. “I’d like that.”
He leaned in and whispered, “By the way, do you realize your sister and my father are spying on us?”
She looked around. “I don’t see them.”
“They’re along the wall outside the door. Dad forgets I can hear like a vampire.”
Dawn’s eyes twinkled. “Want to kick their butts for spying?”
He snickered. He knew Dawn couldn’t kick anyone’s butt, but the attempt would be fun. “Let’s go on three.”
Author--
cornerofmadness Disclaimer -- Joss Whedon owns them. I just get to do some transformative play time.
Rating -- Teen
Characters/Pairing -- gen, Connor pov, very vague hints of Buffy/Angel, Buffy/Spike and attraction between Connor/Dawn
Timeline/Spoilers -- Post series/ no comics AR
Word Count -- 5,498
Warning -- nothing that couldn’t have been seen on the show
Summary -- Connor has finally found someone who knows what it’s like to have a head filled with fake memories.
Author’s Note -- Written for
cya_ficathon 2012 for the prompt ‘I'd love fic about Wes/Lilah or Connor/Dawn. I'll enjoy anything about Wes/Lilah. I'd be interested in post-series Connor/Dawn and the issues surrounding having constructed memories’. This is the longest Whedonverse story I’ve done in ages. It is alternative reality, mostly because I don’t really know the comics well and I didn’t want to see half of Team Angel dead. Thanks to evil_little_dog for the beta.XXX
Connor wanted to sit in on the meeting, but his dad was still being all weird about him being involved in the monster fighting. He didn’t get it. It wasn’t like he had that much trouble helping his dad and the others save the whole city from the forces of Black Thorn. He was raised in a hell dimension – and now he remembered it clearly but with enough distance to stay sane – so what was Angel worried about? At least he was giving Angel credit for being worried and not controlling, though in the back of his head, Connor sort of thought that, too. Surely he had earned the right to be in there with the team as they talked to the Slayers. Maybe Faith was there. The idea made him grin.
“Wow, this place is big,” a feminine voice said behind him. Connor twisted on the well-used couch to see a woman just a little younger than him. “And kind of run down, no offense.”
“It’s a dump. The hotel Dad was living in didn’t survive the battle. He likes big old places.” Connor stared up at the ceiling, which he wasn’t so sure was as sturdy as it should be. “Has a huge basement so that’s a plus for him and Spike.”
She nodded knowingly. "You're Connor, right?" She dropped into a chair next to him.
"Guessing you heard about me."
"Not until now, actually. My sister was not a bundle of fun driving here." Her nose crinkled up. "I'm Dawn Summers by the way, Buffy's sister."
"Ah, one of the Slayers. Yeah Dad didn't tell me about her either until he got the call from her about the latest big bad." Connor rolled his eyes. “From what he was telling me about her, this is information I needed to know a while back, but Dad's good at telling me nothing, like I'm a child."
Dawn snorted. "Boy, does that sound familiar."
"Do you fight, too?" Connor cast an eye over her. She was pretty, slender, though. She didn't look like a fighter but then again, if she were a Slayer, he knew that didn't mean anything. For that matter, he didn't look like much, either.
Shaking her head, Dawn said. "I'm more research girl, though Willow's been showing me a little magic."
Connor made a face.
"You don't like magic?" She looked surprised.
"I used to think it really messed things up and it did." Connor shrugged. "But Willow did some pretty cool stuff, and it's hard to deny the magic Dad had done to me to rewrite all my memories worked. For a while, at least, until more magic messed it up."
Dawn's brow wrinkled and her eyes took on a strange gleam. "Rewritten memories?"
He grimaced. He should have kept his big mouth shut. "Long story. Come on, I don't want to just sit out here, excluded, do you?"
"Buffy will tell you I rarely listen, but about the memories-"
Connor held up a hand. "I'll tell you later. Did Faith come with you guys?"
"No, she's on another mission. Xander is with her and Kennedy, another Slayer." Dawn shrugged. "I guess you know Faith."
"Yeah, she was interesting." Faith hadn't taken him seriously enough, but still he had liked her. A strange emotion veiled Dawn's face, but he wasn't sure he was skilled enough at reading expressions to guess at it, tinkered memories aside. Women were confusing. "Come on, they’re down this way."
He led her down the hall to where Angel, Buffy, and the others were holding their meeting. The room had a huge marble fireplace that even he knew had to have been beautiful at once time. It would have been prettier without his father hulking in front of it.
Buffy paced between Angel and Spike who lounged against the wall like he was bored. Illyria stood next to him, something Connor noticed she did often. Wes and Gunn were sitting next to Willow and another guy - Giles was it? – on the couches. A young redheaded girl sat next to Giles but Connor didn’t know her. The conversation died when they walked in.
“I’m not going to sit on the sidelines, Angel,” Connor announced.
“Don’t you have a test to be studying for?” His father scowled.
Connor waved him off. “I’m better with this and you know it.”
“And you don’t normally exclude me, Buffy,” Dawn put in.
“Let them stay,” Spike said and Buffy shot him a dark look. “But you shouldn’t complain at being protected, Li’l Bit.”
Dawn cross her arms. “I’m not, but I’m good at being research girl and you know it.”
“I see you don’t care about me being protected.” Connor smirked.
“You’re a right little monster.” Spike snorted. “And probably just as rubbish at being normal as me and your old man.”
“Spike,” Angel hissed.
“He’s probably right.” Connor shrugged.
“Fine. Stay.” Angel turned to Buffy. “So, you were saying?”
“A cult, one of the End of Days type. We tracked them to L.A. and to Wolfram and Hart.” Her lips pulled down, her fingers curling into fists. “We thought for a time we’d have to fight you.”
“We were working with Wolfram and Hart more to stop them than to promote their causes,” Wesley protested, wincing as if he realized how lame that sounded.
“That’s not really what Andrew said,” Buffy replied.
“Why would you listen to anything that wanker would say?” Spike pushed off the wall, crossing the room to stand by Angel in front of the fireplace.
“I keep asking that,” Dawn said and her sister glared. “What? He tried to kill me and Xander with a sword.”
Sighing, Buffy turned back to Angel, ignoring her sister. “Anyhow, we got word of how you stopped Black Thorn and realized you hadn’t gone over to the other side.”
“Thanks,” Spike grumbled.
“With the near complete decimation of the Watcher’s Council, and the few left being spread thin trying to counsel all the new Slayers, it seemed prudent to get all the help we could to find this cult,” Giles said, adjusting his glasses. “We’ve also lost a lot of our books and other records, thanks to the First Evil.”
“Unfortunately, so were much of Wolfram and Hart’s archives,” Wesley replied.
“We lucked out. There was a retired Watcher’s consultant here in LA, a feisty old woman who braved those first days, and she recovered at least some of those books,” Giles said and Wes’s face brightened. “We will be able to look at what she took. She’s willing to turn it over to me once we’re done here. I thought that Dawn and I could go do some of the research.” He turned to look at Wesley. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want to do that or if you had other contacts.”
“Illyria and I could check out some of our local sources.” Wesley nodded.
“Gunn can go with Buffy and…your name again? I’m sorry.” Angel waved a hand at the redheaded girl sitting next to Giles.
“Kiera,” she replied and Connor didn’t miss Angel’s eyes lighting up at her Irish accent. It had better be the accent and not him being an old perv.
“Kiera. Spike and I can join you after dark,” Angel said. “Willow, what about you?”
“I can go with Fred, uh Illyria! And Wes. We made a good team in the past,” she replied brightly but Illyria’s face remained as passive as ever.
“Connor, since you want in on this, you can help Dawn and Giles,” Angel said.
“What the hell? I’m not research guy!” he whined, knowing he sounded like a petulant brat.
“You are now,” Angel reminded him of all the new bells and whistles crammed into his head.
“Fine, but I haven’t forgotten everything from Quor-Toth, you know.” Connor tapped his forehead. “It’s all up here with the new memories.”
“Did he say Quor-Toth?” Giles blinked rapidly behind his glasses.
“You know about it?” Angel looked surprised.
“What’s Quor-Toth?” Buffy’s gaze swiveled between Giles and Angel.
“Hell dimension. I was raised there.” Connor shrugged.
“No one mentioned hell dimensions.” Buffy took a small step toward Dawn. If her glare had been wooden stakes, Connor would have dust where his father stood.
“It’s a long story.” Angel turned an equally fiery glower on Connor.
“Fine. I’ll help Dawn,” Connor said before Angel could start lecturing. “And if Angel would just tell people things we need to know, there’d be a lot less misunderstandings, Buffy. Dad likes to lie by omission which is why he didn’t tell you about Quor-Toth,” Connor said and his father shot him a crushed look. Still, Connor couldn’t help but wonder if he would never have gone insane in the first place if he had been told everything. The truth about his mother, about Cordy. He’d never know.
“He’s not the only one,” Buffy replied darkly, glancing over at Giles. He looked away. She shook herself as if to ward off something. “All right, sounds like we’re set except for times.”
“Nettie is expecting us at nine,” Giles said.
“And whenever you ladies want to jet out, I’m with you,” Gunn added.
“I just hope someone’s good with languages. That’s not something I got in the rewiring,” Connor said, noticing the quizzical looks he got from Buffy’s crowd. Did Angel tell them nothing? Probably.
“Giles can read several languages and I’m a natural polyglot,” Dawn replied.
“Really? Are you going to be around for a while today?” Connor smiled at her.
“We still have one or two things to hammer out,” Buffy answered for her.
“Good. Dad wanted me to study. I have a French test coming up and I suck at it. Want to help me study for a while, Dawn?” Connor asked.
“Sure.”
He led her out, seeing the expressions on his dad and Buffy’s faces. Connor smirked. This could be fun.
XXX
Connor glanced into the other room where Nettie and Giles were in deep conversation then turned to Dawn. “So, technically you aren’t human?”
She shook her head, long hair swinging against her cheeks. “I was some kind of energy key to a hell dimension, but as far as we can tell, I’m human enough now.” Dawn leafed through a volume on cults so far she could barely lift it. “I don’t have any special Slayer powers or any magic other than a few easy spells Willow taught me.” Dawn shrugged. “The language ability is my superpower. It’s handy, though. I guess when the Watchers are restructured and rebuilt, I’ll join them.”
“It’ll be interesting, more interesting than anything either of my fathers have in mind for me.” Connor sighed, digging through his stack of books to find one in English. “Investment banking. How boring. Angel agrees with Dad the Third that it’s a great job. They apparently want me to die a slow, tedious death.”
“So, three dads? How does that even work?” Dawn peeked up at him. “You mentioned new memories.”
“Very long story involving two vampire parents who really screwed over a man named Holtz back in the seventeen hundreds. He managed to somehow end up in the present day, still pissed at Angel and Darla. He kidnapped me and managed to strand us in a hell dimension.”
“Quor-Toth.”
“Right. Time passed differently there. I grew up there, I’m not sure how long. I didn’t have birthdays, but only days passed here, in this world so I came back here a lot older than I should have been. It was a hard way to grow up, living in hell.” Connor paused, licking his lips. “I adjusted poorly to coming back here. No one was prepared for me to be a teenager and they didn’t handle my homecoming any better than me. It didn’t help that Holtz spent my entire life teaching me to hate and kill demons and vampires, which I turned against Angel.”
“That would make you unpopular, especially since he’s your dad.” Dawn eyed him, as if studying him for homicidal tendencies.
“I considered Holtz to be my father.” Connor flipped open the book. “I didn’t believe anything Angel said and it went downhill from there. Holtz committed suicide, making it look like Angel killed him. Getting involved with Cordy, our daughter being what she was, killing her, followed up by my splashy suicide by vampire.” The words clipped out. He didn’t want to think about it, really, but it almost felt good telling it to someone who wasn’t there and hopefully, wouldn’t judge too harshly.
Her nose wrinkled. “That’s too condensed. I’m not sure I connected all the dots. Maybe once we’re not so busy you can fill it in.” A hint of a blush kissed her cheeks. “If you want to talk about it. I can see it’s not pretty.”
“No, but I wouldn’t mind talking to you. You’d probably understand some of it.”
Dawn considered that for a minute before nodding. “So, that accounts for two of three dads, but neither of those are implanted memories, right?”
“No, that would the third dad.” Connor paused, trying to think on how to say it. “When everything went to hell and I forced Angel to kill me, he couldn’t live with that. I get that now, but at that point I was pretty much out of my head.” He looked into Dawn’s eyes, seeing understanding there. “The whole reason he and the others even went to work for Wolfram and Hart was to save me, and you can tell your sister that. She seems to have a problem with it and I know why. Believe me. Those people wanted to dissect me at one point.”
“Ew.” Dawn shuddered.
“Yeah. Anyhow, they resurrected me or spun back time, I honest do not know, but here I am, everything that made me, me had been suppressed. I had a whole new life implanted in my head. A loving mom and dad, a kid sister, ordinary, you know?”
“Completely.” Dawn sounded just a bit sad or resigned and for some reason, that made him frown a little.
“I had nothing more pressing in my mind than figuring out who to take to prom – Caitlyn Walters and it was a mistake – and trying to decide what to major in and where I’d go to college.”
“How did you remember who you were? For me, I had to sneak into Giles’s magic shop and read his Watcher Journal, which wasn’t the right thing to do, but half the time they tell me nothing!” Dawn shook her head, frowning. “That was so hard, learning it like that.”
Connor made a derisive sound. “I get that. Demons attacked my new family. At the time, I didn’t know why I thought I had to protect my family and fight those monsters, but I did and knocked them out of the park. I had no idea what was happening to me. Angel had to have been terrified when my new dad showed up with me at Wolfram and Hart for help because of those demons. Angel didn’t just alter my mind. He altered everyone who ever knew me. Wesley didn’t know what he was getting into when he tried to help. In the end, I had to fight a demon or die. I nearly died. Angel was magically barred from helping me, but Wesley had gotten curious. He tracked down the roots of it and restored all our memories.”
“Angel couldn’t be happy about that.” Dawn’s lips tugged down, looking oddly depressed by that. “He gave up a lot and I can’t imagine they were too pleased with him for it.”
“Probably not. He knew that I remembered everything, but I didn’t stay with him. I took what he gave me, which was a chance at a real life and some peace, and ran with it.”
“But you’re here now.”
“When the Black Thorn thing shook out, the End of Days, I knew I couldn’t be selfish. I helped.” Connor ran a hand through his hair. “I could have gone back to college. Well, I did, but locally. Part of me doesn’t want to be here now. I’m tired of fighting, Dawn. But how many people can do what I can?”
She reached across the stack of books and put her hand over his. “My sister says that all the time.”
“How long has she been a Slayer?”
“Since she was sixteen.”
“I started not long after I could walk. Well, not killing, but training. All of my childhood games were designed to make me a better killer. It seems to be what I am bred for.” He sighed again. “I’m not sure I can live with being ‘normal,’ knowing I could have made a difference if I had just tried.” Connor spread his hands. He’d never really put that into words before, not even for Angel. “And if I try to be normal, how do I know the demons won’t come after me again?”
“They might. I know the Slayers can sense demons, sometimes, and I think it works both ways.” Dawn offered him a faint smile. “So you have a head full of memories that never happened for nothing?”
He considered that. “Not for nothing. I’m better now. I can live in this world. I couldn’t before. I know what’s real and what’s been inserted, but I can still pull on these happier memories and they calm me down.”
“That’s good. I’m not sure I’d have any memories at all if not for the implanted ones. I’m not sure a ‘key’ would have been capable of that sort of thing. I guess I can’t hate what those monks did too much.” Dawn spread her hands. “I have a good family, good friends.”
“Dawn, have you or Connor found anything?” Giles called from the other room and Dawn flushed.
“Not yet,” she said then whispered to Connor. “We better get back to work.”
“I think we have something here.” Giles came out with Nettie. Connor had more respect for the retired Watcher’s consultant than he expected. Nettie looked to be a hundred years old and needed a cane and yet she had gone out into the nightmare after the attack of Black Thorn’s minions to salvage what she could.
“A book that mentions this cult had an interest in bringing forth the bringer of pain and torment, the Destroyer and he in turn will evoke the Devourer,” Nettie said and Connor flinched.
“That is not encouraging,” Dawn said.
“And if those should fail, they want to use this book.” Giles waved the one in his hands. “To bind the Destroyer to their will and force him to open a hell dimension.”
“I can tell you that failure already happened,” Connor said.
“Oh?” Giles peered at him intently.
“I’m the Destroyer,” Connor replied bluntly, watching their eyes widen.
“You?” Dawn poked a finger into his wiry arm, a look of disbelief in her eyes.
“The demons named me that, not the good guys,” he huffed. “I told you I was really good at killing them. The Devourer was my and Cordelia’s daughter and I killed her. That just leaves this cult’s backup plan, but I’m not sure I can open a hell dimension. Okay, I tore a hole in Quor-Toth’s dimensional walls once I got it out of the sluhks how it was done. But I don’t know any magic. I don’t even like magic.”
“You might not need it. You’re sitting right next to a dimensional key,” Dawn reminded him.
“This is not good,” Nettie said.
Connor’s head snapped around toward the apartment’s window, his brow wrinkling.
“What is it?” Dawn asked.
He put a finger to his lips, getting up. “I heard something.”
“You’re not getting paranoid, are you?” she hissed.
The shattering of glass answered her. Connor leapt between them and whatever it was coming through the window. It looked like an octopus with feathers. “Weapons?” he asked.
“Giles, the hope chest in the bed room,” Nettie said, backing up against the wall so nothing could get behind her, Connor assumed.
As Giles went back deeper into the house, Connor picked up a chair, crushing it down on one feather writhing tentacle. The thing made a high-pitched whine that threatened to burst Connor’s ear drums. The chair splintered. Connor grabbed up two chair legs, tossing one to Dawn. “Better than nothing.” He lurched forward, driving the leg through one glittering black orb he was hoping was both an eye and a soft spot. The ease the leg when into it proved him right. The thing did a skittering dance, knocking over one end table and a lamp as it died. “Easier than I-” Connor’s words were cut short as another tentacle reached through the shattered balcony door, yanking him through it.
Another of the creatures hung on the high rise apartment’s walls. It let him go, but Connor caught its tentacle, pulling hard. Too hard. He unseated the creature and they both went into free fall. Longer feathers unfurled, letting the thing glide, but Connor drove his fingers into its eyes. Its ‘wings’ folded and they dropped. He knew he could survive a fall from this height without much issue. He twisted to make sure he landed on the thing, but ended up buried in its mollusky head up to his knees.
“Ewwww.” Connor shook his head, trying to loosen his tight neck muscles. Ignoring the sticky blue blood and bile-colored viscera clinging to him, he jumped up and grabbed the nearest handhold, swarming back up the high rise. When he got to Nettie’s balcony, he saw Giles trying to hold off a man – woman? – in a cloak who seemed to be hurling magic at him. Dawn had a sword, swatting at a third tentacled thing that was trying to grab her from above.
“You move like a vampire,” she said as Connor pulled himself up over the balcony railing.
“Yeah.” Connor took the sword from her, pushing himself off the balcony after the monster. He probably should have gone for the wizard, but he didn’t know enough about how to get around magic. He skewered the tenacled minion then dropped back down onto the railing.
“You have to be the Destroyer,” the wizard said, or should he say, witch? The voice sounded female, but there was a veil over the opening of the cloak.
Connor braced for an attack, looking over at Giles. “Got anything offensive in that bag of tricks of yours?”
“I do,” Nettie’s voice said at the sliding glass door. The old woman took aim with a crossbow that had a glittering bolt of what looked like pure energy.
The witch whipped around to block it and when she was distracted, Connor leapt on her back, knocking her out with one hit. Hauling her up by her robe, Connor smiled over at Nettie. “Glad she didn’t hurt you.”
Nettie flipped a hand at him. “I’m a tough old bird. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Connor pulled the woman’s veil off to reveal a younger woman than he was expecting. Her head had been shaved and tattooed with symbols that made no sense to him but seemed to excite Giles and Nettie.
“What do we have here?” Giles came closer to examine the unconscious woman.
“You tell me. What’s the best way to restrain a witch? I really pulled my punch. I have no idea how long she’ll be out,” Connor said.
“We’ll worry about that. Bring her inside,” Giles said.
Connor dragged the woman in, acutely aware Dawn was looking at him. “What?”
“You fell eleven stories and you’re not hurt,” she said. “I’m not sure even Buffy can do that.”
He shrugged. “Guess that’s part of being half-demon.”
“That’s where the Slayer powers came from as well,” Giles said. “That and magic. You are even more unique.”
“Lucky me.”
As Giles and Nettie were dealing with the witch, a knock sounded on the door. Connor exchanged glances with Dawn.
“Better answer that,” Nettie said. “Someone might have reported the breaking glass.”
Connor nodded, wondering if the gooey dead demons would just disappear or would they have to explain them, too. He opened the door to see Buffy, Kiera and Gunn.
“Did you find…” Buffy’s eyes widened seeing the destroyed sliding glass door and a now-trussed up, gagged woman on the floor. “What the hell happened?”
“Turns out Connor and I are probably the cult’s target,” Dawn said sourly. “And I learned Connor can fall off a high-rise and not get hurt.”
Buffy blinked. “What?”
“There are a few dead demons that I’m thinking might still be lying down in the alley and we caught a witch.” Connor jerked a thumb at her. “Want me to call Angel and Spike? I know they can’t get here yet, but Dad might want to know.”
“I’ll call him,” Gunn said. “You’re a mess.”
Connor looked down at his demon-guts encrusted pants. “Big surprise. Giles, you know about witches. What do we do with her?”
The Watcher’s pale blue eyes darkened. “We make her tell us everything we need to know.”
XXX
“I should be allowed to come with you,” Dawn said. “They want to use me, well, maybe. If they know what I am.”
“And that’s all the more reason for you to stay behind,” Buffy said, folding her arms over her chest.
“We know they want Connor and he’s going,” Dawn protested.
“Yeah but I can fight. None of your fake memories gave you that,” he pointed out.
“And she would have no power behind it if they had,” Buffy said.
“That doesn’t stop Gunn or Wes or Xander.” Dawn sighed.
“I do not see why I should stay,” Illyria said.
“We need to make sure Dawn is protected if they come for her here,” Spike replied. “And besides, Blue, you don’t know the meaning of the word restraint. Buffy will not be happy if we kill all the cultists in one fell swoop.”
“They wouldn’t trouble us again if I did,” Illyria argued.
“If it helps, part of me wants to stay here, and the implanted memories only make that stronger.” Connor rested a hand on her shoulder.
“I want you to stay here,” Angel reminded him.
“They came for me last time. Might as well take the fight to them. Willow, Giles and Wes are dealing with the magic stuff. Me, you, Spike and the Slayers need to provide them with cover.” Connor shrugged. “This shouldn’t take too long.”
“This is probably overkill,” Spike agreed.
No one argued. He didn’t want the others to know, but this battle made Connor nervous. He didn’t have Angel or Spike’s practice in not hurting humans. It was hard to figure out how much of his punch to pull. One of the memories he wished had remained overwritten was the feeling of his fist going through Jasmine’s head. He never wanted to feel that again, and Connor was half afraid it could happen if he had to fight a normal human. Take away the magic and that’s all a witch or wizard was, after all.
The cultist he had captured had been dead-on with her description of where to find her fellow End of Dayers. Never underestimate how scary two vampires and some magic users could be when they were interrogating someone. The warehouse looked more like a drug flophouse than anything else. His team of White Hats burst in like something out of an action flick and Connor felt acutely embarrassed afterward. He wondered if the others felt the same since no one moved for a moment. Unrobed, the cultists were a mix, many as young as him, a few older adults and a healthy handful of the elderly. It looked more like a well tattooed shave-headed family group, but then again, wasn’t that what a lot of religious cults aimed to be?
“Vampires!” one particularly wizened woman said, raising her hand. “Holocaust na-”
Connor recognized this had to be a fire spell, but Willow hit her with a blast that knocked the old bat out cold. Several of the young men came toward him, weapons held high. “I could have been studying for a freaking French exam with a cute girl, but no, I have to be here because you jerks want to end the world. Have any idea how pissed off that makes me?”
“Don’t say pissed off,” Angel hissed, dodging a magic projectile from one of the other elderly cultists. It was easy to see who ran the group.
“Who are you people?”
“A couple vampires, a couple witches, a few Slayers and the Destroyer.” Connor thumped his chest then grimaced. Now there was a boner move, identifying himself.
“You? The Destroyer is not some skinny kid,” one of the young men laughed.
“Do we have to drag this out at all?” Connor asked.
“Hell no,” Spike replied.
Connor slapped the nearest one halfway across the room. At best estimate, it took them under five minutes to decimate the whole group. He surveyed the unconscious or moaning cultists. “Now what? It’s easier fighting vampires. All you need is a dust buster to clean up afterwards.”
“That is not funny,” Spike glowered, but Buffy snorted. The blond vampire scowled at her, too. “It was easier when Wolfram and Hart was around to take care of this sort of thing. Hey, Watcher, does your group have ways of dealing with the human element?”
“Not that currently exists, but since they were going to use a tome to invoke their end of days,” Giles said, pushing his glasses up.
“All we have to do is take that away,” Willow chirped.
“I’ll leave that to you guys. I wouldn’t know what to look for,” Connor said, going over to his father and Spike. Buffy also gravitated toward them, keeping an eye on the fallen cultists.
“He fights well,” she said to Angel.
“That was nothing,” his father replied proudly. “You’ll have to spar with him some time, Buffy.” Something flashed in his father’s eyes when he looked at the Slayer that Connor didn’t understand. He’d have to ask about it later, not that he was sure he’d get a straight answer out of his dad.
“This was kind of a let down,” Connor said. “They didn’t even have any more flying octopi.”
“I’ll take an easy fight any day,” Buffy retorted.
“Yeah, guess I shouldn’t complain, but now all I have to look forward to is studying French with your sister.” He shrugged. “Which is something I actually want to do so I’m not complaining.”
Buffy looked up at his dad. “Angel.”
Angel nodded. “We’ll talk later, Connor.”
He sure as hell hoped this wasn’t going to be some kind of sex talk though it might be amusing watching his dad stumble his way through one. Connor decided to cut his losses and went to listen to Wes and Giles discussing if the police should be brought in. After all, the cultists had broken into Nettie’s home and who knew what else they might be guilty of. Bored, Connor let his thoughts drift back to Dawn. It was interesting to have someone around who understood what it felt like to have a head full of memories that weren’t real and yet didn’t know how to live without them. It demanded more exploration.
XXX
“I wish you could stay around longer,” Connor said, sitting next to Dawn on the couch.
“Me, too. You get what it’s like,” she said, tapping her forehead and he nodded. “I want to get to know you better.”
“You guys can’t stay in L.A.?”
Dawn shook her head. “We have to track down all the activated Slayers. It’s disturbing to suddenly have these powers and the temptation to do bad things with them is huge. There are almost no Watchers left, either. There’s a lot of rebuilding to do. Too bad you can’t come with us.”
“I need to finish school. Two Dads will be disappointed if I don’t. Besides, I’m still working stuff out with Angel. Who knows, maybe I can learn something useful to you guys later. I mean, we’re both young.” Connor shrugged.
“Yeah. We were in Italy for a while and the London area was the traditional seat for the Watchers. I’m not sure if that’s where we’re going to rebuild or not.”
“Let me know. I could always do a semester aboard. That would be fun.” He smiled.
Dawn echoed it. “I’d like that.”
He leaned in and whispered, “By the way, do you realize your sister and my father are spying on us?”
She looked around. “I don’t see them.”
“They’re along the wall outside the door. Dad forgets I can hear like a vampire.”
Dawn’s eyes twinkled. “Want to kick their butts for spying?”
He snickered. He knew Dawn couldn’t kick anyone’s butt, but the attempt would be fun. “Let’s go on three.”
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