“All Ye Who Enter”, 3/3

[aadler]

 
Final installment.

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Part 2 here

Part III

And it grows, ooohh it grows, the reverberations spreading and multiplying, ripples leaping from other ripples, complications and permutations and consequences caroming off each other like … pocket billiards, like pocket billiards, and why do they make the chalk blue now? So unattractive, really. She sees the Slayer, mad with grief and guilt and hate, exploding through the night children of Sunnydale like chain lightning, a berserk unquenchable cyclone of vengeance and death. She sees the girl pushing away the consoling arms of her father, and the other man she calls father, sees her striking out from all who care for her, honing and hardening and armoring herself until she can never again be hurt, never again be bereaved, never again love or laugh or trust, until at last she is a wandering, solitary hunter, fighting when she can find a fight but always moving, always fleeing, always alone, alone …

“Waiting for an answer here, Dru.”

She looked up with a shiver of delight, pleasure and adoration and remembered fear coursing through her like … champagne, pink champagne, SO wonderful it tasted when you knew what to mix with it, all red and rich and fizzy, but she could never remember to bring any home … “Angel,” she purred. “Did you want me?”

“You tell me.” He was leaning against the heavy draperies, elegant and ominous. “I was about to make a house call, show my ex that it’ll take more than ‘changing the locks’ to keep me out, and then you go all, Woo-o-oo, this just in. So what’s the big news?”

She gave him a fond smile. Such a lovely fire he had/would made/make, she really must be there to see it again …

… but …

… but then who would sing to her and hurt her and make her feel precious? Spike, Spike would never leave her, wonderful Spike, how all those silly Chinamen had been terrified of him, it made her giggle to think of it even ever so many years later … No, it wouldn’t do. Spike was a love, but it simply couldn’t be right without Angel. They were a family, she had to keep their happy home together, it was a woman’s duty to see to such things, even when her hair changed directions and started growing inward, it pressed so on her brain.

She moved to his side, sliding an arm around his waist and molding herself to him. “Go visit her mummy some other night,” she wheedled. “I saw the most darling pair of girls, ice skaters, all firm and sequiny, they looked just scrumptious. Say you’ll have them with me?”

Angel shrugged. “Why not? Good ol’ Mom will keep, and it isn’t like she’d be much of a challenge anyway.” He grinned down at Drusilla as she raised his hand to her mouth and began to nip at his fingers. “What d’you think, should we bring back a doggy bag for Spike? The boy needs nourishment, he’s looking kind of peaked.”

They went out into the night, arm in arm, she smiling at her victory and knowing he would believe her pleasure was due to his presence … and it was, it was. So easy, really, a touch of gentle guidance at exactly the right moment, and let the manly men think they were in charge. They would always be together, linked by blood and atrocity and need, and that was as it should be.

Above them the moon was screaming, and she began to croon in harmony with it.
 
 
– end –

[ A supplementary drabble for this story can be seen HERE. ]
 

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And there you are. Don’t hesitate to offer commentary.

End Notes

Comments

[lwbush.livejournal.com]

Whew - I came into this part ready to bid Joyce goodbye, and yet Dru saved her. What a stunning piece of work - very well done.

[aadler]

When I first began doing Buffyfic, I had a serious case of Joyce-worship. Over at the Sunnydale Slayers, Dawn Steele did a story called “Let Me Count the Ways”, delineating the means by which various Buffy characters might have brought an end to Angelus. I noted that Joyce hadn’t been included in the roster, which automatically led me to wondering how such an encounter would have gone.

I’m happy that it still has the power to please, even this many years later.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Another good one.

[aadler]

And I cordially thank you.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I am thrilled to bits that you highlighted this in your retrospective because otherwise I might never have read it. It was wonderful! I'm a Joyce fan, I must confess, and you show her to great advantage here. She was a strong and clever lady and it's terrific to see that highlighted. Bravo!


Gabrielle

[aadler]

Yes, I had some serious Joyce-love going for awhile there. You probably know about some of these already, but if you liked “All Ye Who Enter”, other of my stories that feature Joyce to good advantage (as a main character or as support) are “Point of Focus”, “Each Proud Division”, and “Morning’s Echo”, along with some segments of “Voices in the Dark”, “… Than Meets the Eye”, “In Ev’ry Angle Greet”, and “Echoes from the Battleground”.

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all these links! I am saving this comment to go back and do some serious reading.


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

The poster for All Ye Who Enter is finished, sir, I hope you find it to your liking?

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/red_satin_doll/51574655/422602/422602_900.png

[aadler]

Wonderful, beautiful, utterly acceptable!

One tiny, tiny thing, which I fully recognize as just a quirk of my own: would it be possible to make the “B” in “By Aadler” lower-case? If not for that one teeny quibble (for which I know I’m unreasonable, but it’s a small thing so I’m willing to ask it), I’d be posting the art already.

Thank you!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Normally I'd say no in the case of such a small change - the font I used here is actually three layers of font for each line of text in three different colors and filters settings - but I was able to redo it this time and I think it matches well enough. I hope this passes muster:

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/red_satin_doll/51574655/422772/422772_900.png

And you're welcome, I'm glad it doesn't disappoint. I'll be posting it to my own journal with links to your story in the coming week.

[aadler]

You are so far beyond welcome, I can’t find the proper words. This will be attached to the story — with an LJ announcement — as quickly as I can make it happen.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

:D :D :D

I'm kind of speechless too right now. The post looks wonderful thank you!

Given that fan art is done for free and simple acknowledgment and credit is coin of the realm, I'm astonished by how many writers online do not credit the artist when they received 'cover art'. So it's always a treat to be acknowledged.

[aadler]

It floors me a little that the recipients of such fantastic gifts might ever fail to acknowledge the creator. I make it a point to do so, because

1. I’m grateful
2. The giver deserves all the credit he/she can receive, and
3. I might want something else in the future, and how well would that go if I hadn’t expressed proper appreciation?

This was a fine, beautiful gift. It costs me nothing to say so, and adds to my pleasure.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I make it a point to do so

You make 3 very excellent points, actually. I will probably expound on the subject at some point on my journal.

Hurrah to someone who "gets it".

// This was a fine, beautiful gift. It costs me nothing to say so, and adds to my pleasure. //

The feedback adds tremendously to mine *blushes*