From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: buffyfic-digest V2 #119 Reply-To: $SENDER Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk buffyfic-digest Saturday, April 11 1998 Volume 02 : Number 119 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (4/5) by Andrea BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (5/5) by Andrea See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 12:47:09 PDT From: "Andrea Newbery" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (4/5) by Andrea Title: Vampires Anonymous Author: Andrea Newbery e-mail: anewbery@hotmail.com Distribution: sure, as long as I know where. Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: everything up to KbD Summary: I have been spending way too much time thinking about Angel's soul or lack thereof. That is not actually in the story but it is still true. Anyway I was thinking way to much on how Angel will get his soul back and I started thinking that it might be interesting if, say Willow found the ritual and performed it but made a slight mistake and restored the souls of everyone in the factory with Angel. So I decided to see what would happen. Disclaimer: The characters of Angel, Buffy et al. are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB and whoever else… No copyright infringement intended. Please don't sue me I'm already up to my neck in debt! Feedback: Please...good, bad, whatever! "Okay, step one is…" Xander never could understand why they had to recite these every week, did vampires have really bad memories? "Do not feed off a human under any circumstan ces." The group spoke softly still somewhat afraid the humans would notice they were there. "Exactly, you can feed off of cow's blood, pig's blood... Willie always has a great supply of blood from the slaughter houses, make sure you check to see if it is fresh-he will try to cheat you. Also never steal from the blood banks, human blood is never okay. If you're really stuck try rats or mice." A sigh of distaste murmured through the group. "And number two is?" Xander was getting into the spirit of things now and had apparently decided that the spirit of things was eerily similar to the captain of a cheerleadin squad. "Never use your vampire abilities against humans." The chorus of voices was getting stronger, this rule were easier to follow than the first one. "That means no throwing rude clerks against walls, no going game face on children throwing rocks, no nothing!" The vampires all sat there looking as angelic as third-graders. "Number three?" Xander was getting progressively louder and Willow and Buffy were watching him nervously. Cordelia on the other hand was sitting with her face in her hands at the back of the room wondering and not for the first time what she was doing involved with him. "Never associate with the other vampires, the ones who don't have souls." They all were very happy with this guideline. None of them particularly wanted to be reminded of what they had been. "Right, that means if they're not here tonight, then they're not one of you. Some of you are actively involved in helping the slayer, which is great but I don't want anyone to feel obligated to. I understand that for some of you hunting your former comrades is very difficult and no one will think less of you for not actively hunting other vampires. On the other hand we believe guideline number five supercedes any reluctance you may have and it is?" Xander watched to see their response to this guideline, this was the one that was important to him. "Always protect any human from attack by any vampire or other demons." The stated it loud and clear and Xander was relieved. "Exactly, if any humans are being attacked then it is permissible to use your supernatural abilities to help them. We, as you know, weren't going to make this a guideline but after hearing from many of you about how helping protect humans from things you once did helps you regain some of your lost humanity we decided it was an important step. We want everyone to feel as human as is possible." Angel almost shuddered at the thought of how stupid this whole group thing was. A sorry group of vampires with souls trying to make their lives mean something other than death. Angel had thought that was possible for one shining moment over a year ago and everyone had paid dearly for that mistake. Of course now everyone thought Angel was the one with the attitude problem, Buffy was continually nagging him to be more involved in the group, to make more of an effort. He thought back to when Buffy had first seized upon the idea to have the group. They had been sitting in his apartment after he had finally realized that she was determined to forgive him for the horrible things he had done. He was too weak to fight her on this issue; he wanted too badly to be with her. So he was sitting there complaining about the newly souled vampires. How they were crying and moaning and generally being a huge pain in the neck. Which is something a vampire usually gives rather than receives. Anyway he was talking about how they had lost two to suicide that day. He thought it was a good idea, he only wished he had been able to do it. She was horrified at the thought of this. She actually thought he wasn't responsible for what he had done and therefore none of the vampires at the factory were. He could see the logic in her thinking but logic doesn't help much when your basic premise is wrong. He argued against her forgiveness for a while longer then he finally shut-up and decided to hate himself in private from now on. It was to late though, she had already decided to go talk to the vampires and see if she could help them. He thought for sure Giles would stop her but no, Giles thought the vampires could be valuable allies. Willow was always willing to give a second chance so Xander was his only hope. That turned out to be somewhat of a false hope. He remembered the first meeting, it was only Spike, Dru and himself there arguing over who was more evil and who deserved to die more and on and on. He had gotten really angry with Spike when Spike tried to apologize for trying to kill him and his girlfriend. He had turned Spike's girlfriend into a vampire could anything be worse than that? Well, he had also driven her insane. Dru just sat in the corner the first meeting whimpering 'I killed my bird, I killed all my birds' repeatedly. And here they were now a year later with a few less vampires and a lot less death. "Number six?" Angel was starting to worry this would never end. "Accept that you do have a demon inside you and resolve to always keep it under control" Exactly, Angel thought, remember you are a demon. "This doesn't mean you are a demon, just think of it as your bad side. You all have the capacity for good, we just want you remember that the demon will always be with you but that you are not the demon." Xander was a little weak on this guideline, he wasn't sure he fully believed it himself. He had been beaten down though by Buffy and Giles insistence on this fact. He had to trust they were right. He also had just realized he was running this meeting so if he decided to cut this guideline reading off here no one would stop him. "Okay, great, I think we all got the gist of it. You all have copies now so I say take them home put them on your fridge or whatever. You all now these by heart anyway." Xander saw Angel then lurking in the shadows at the back of the room and thought...cake! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Apr 1998 12:51:07 PDT From: "Andrea Newbery" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Vampires Anonymous, (5/5) by Andrea Title: Vampires Anonymous Author: Andrea Newbery e-mail: anewbery@hotmail.com Distribution: sure, as long as I know where. Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: everything up to KbD Summary: I have been spending way too much time thinking about Angel's soul or lack thereof. That is not actually in the story but it is still true. Anyway I was thinking way to much on how Angel will get his soul back and I started thinking that it might be interesting if, say Willow found the ritual and performed it but made a slight mistake and restored the souls of everyone in the factory with Angel. So I decided to see what would happen. Disclaimer: The characters of Angel, Buffy et al. are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB and whoever else… No copyright infringement intended. Please don't sue me I'm already up to my neck in debt! Feedback: Please...good, bad, whatever! "I would like to congratulate Spike and Dru on there first anniversary in the group, as you know the group started with just three of you and slowly built from there. Angel is also..." Xander voice trailed off as he felt the look Angel was giving him. Buffy was mouthing 'No' and shaking her head franticly. Right, he forgot Angel wouldn't do the group thing and had threatened to disappear if forced to. Tempting. "Anyway I invite everyone to join Spike and Dru in having cake and beverages to mark this milestone in their life." Xander walked quickly to the snack table hoping to get a piece of cake before the vampires got there. Nothing personal really, they just were used to eating there food live and so were somewhat rusty on table manners. Giles walked up to him with an obvious purpose in mind. "Xander, we were thinking" This did not bode well for him, "We think if you talk to Angel he may join in with the group." Him talk to Angel, try to convince him to join? He could do that; look like the big hero to everyone, succeeding were everyone else had failed. If he succeeded. He may just end up pushing Angel farther away; they had a bit of a rocky history. "Giles, Angel and I, we...well, we aren't exactly the best of friends.... And I'm not as sure as the rest of you on this group idea and..." He watched Giles to see if his words had any effect, the watcher simply motioned his hand towards Angel. Xander grabbed another piece of cake, he knew Angel wouldn't take it, but Angel food cake was his favorite. He did not want to have this talk with Angel but he was fully aware of how persuasive (read violent) Buffy could be when she wanted something. "So Angel, how's it going?" Angel just looked at him, suspicious of his motives. "Right I forgot, you-no-speak." Angel continued staring at him, almost daring him to say anything. Xander just took a deep breath and jumped in, "Okay here's the deal, everyone has decided that you need to be involved with this group. I have been chosen as the next unsuccessful person to try and convince you that you're not evil. I am not the best person to be doing this 'cause I'm not sure you aren't." Angel looked slightly interested at this news. "I do know however that you can control this evil, you did it before and you've done it for the last year unless maybe you've taken off for short killing trips?" Angel just looked at him. " Okay right, the way I see it Buffy and the others will never stop bugging you so you may as well give in and fake it. I do things for Cordelia all the time that I don't want to but they make her happy. I mean look at my clothes, they match. Do you think I would have done this?" Xander stopped talking for a minute as he thought about the horribly conventional clothes he was wearing. The things a guy will do for.... "So, I'm thinking, you go up there, say a few words, Buffy will be deliriously happy. I will be the hero and everyone will have a great evening" He watched Angel hopefully, praying he saw this as a sensible solution. After a few minutes Angel laughed and said, "So I just pretend to believe this feel good junk to get everyone to lay off? Xander you really should consider a career in politics." This sounded to Xander as if maybe he was thinking about it. "So..." "I'll do it, it serves them right for trying to force me into this." Xander could barely contain his grin; he was going to be such the hero. He took off for the front of the room dragging Angel behind him so he wouldn't change his mind. He grabbed the mike and spoke into it. "Okay is everyone ready to get back to business?" Everyone sat back in their seats; Buffy, Giles and Willow sat in the front row watching Angel anxiously. "We have someone here tonight who you all know, he is speaking tonight for the first time. Please give a warm welcome to Angel..." A gasp ran through the group, Angel had been very vocal about his thoughts on this stuff. They were all curious about him though. He represented hope to them, a human, the slayer, had actually fallen in love with him. Angel walked to the podium as Buffy grinned at him. He cleared his throat, took an unnecessary deep breath and began, " Hi, my name is Angel and I have a soul." The End ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ End of buffyfic-digest V2 #119 ****************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffy to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@xmission.com with unsubscribe buffyfic-digest or unsubscribe buffyfic in the body. Back issues of this digest can be found at: ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/buffyfic/archive/ For help, contact Jill Kirby (jtkirby@mcs.com) or sah (romana@mindspring.com)