AU: Dawn at Belvedere Castle

[nomorekaraoke]

At first, there's barely a sound, barely a speck of color among the shadows of the deceptively old structure. Not anything remarkable about the place, except for its location, perhaps. The air is crisp, the ground is slippery, ice covered in snow covered in more ice. Layers upon layers of white fluff and a concussion just waiting to happen should you forget to watch your step.

He's always liked snow. Especially now, when his eyes are closed and his senses are focused outward; every little snowflake is like a peck on the cheek or the ear or the back of his neck. He remembers the first winter on Earth, he kept imagining the snowflakes were fairies - tiny little darlings dancing in the air only to become it if they ever touched you. Evaporating, melting... It's an end he wouldn't wish on anyone.

Slowly, softly, color seeps into the world, between the cracks. Yellow tones, orange and ochre battling against the dark in an eternal war.

It's beautiful. It gives him hope. The world didn't end tonight. It's just begun anew. Turned a new leaf, if you will.

He opens his eyes, the warmth reflecting in the red of his irises. Maybe today, he can turn a new leaf too. Maybe it isn't too late.

Maybe there's hope for him yet.

Comments

[stilljustandrew]

*Back at HQ he gets Jonathan to do a quick healing spell for his cut cheek and his ankle, and drinks heavily sugared herbal tea while giving Angel the full report on cleaning out the Ixwal nest, and then falls down across his bed to sleep for nine hours.

Later there's a little down time, and Andrew digs out a demon compendium and starts going through the possible types, narrowing them down.

[nomorekaraoke]

Morning comes much too soon after Lorne's squirreled himself up, up and away from the crowds in his very private, very secret little nest. He keeps the lights down for no other reason than paranoia getting the better of him. You never know who's watching, never know who might see through the invisibility glamor cast on the upper half of his apartment building...

He doesn't sleep all day. There was just something about that guy's voice, some strange, familiar but not quality to it, and if there's one thing Lorne's good at it's voices. It's what keeps him up, pacing the width and length of his penthouse; he knows voices. You can change all the rest, but your voice, now, that just doesn't change. Not unless your heart does.

Later that day, he turns on the TV for the background noise it provides; soccer scores galore.

It's a long shot, a veritable leap of stupidity and faith.

A pink note book.

Leather note book with pink paper glued to the back and front with something written on one side and a sketch on the other and it's Beckham, he knows it is (because how could he not know of the guy who more or less started metrosexuality)--

'Gandalf the White... Yoda knows...' All these references, one after the other and people think he never gives it a rest; that's when it hits him like a brick in the head.

"Wolfram and Hart. Wolfram-- Angel's friend."

[stilljustandrew]

Not a chaos demon, not even one with antlers filed down to be able to pass among humans; their protective slime would have frozen in last night's cold, possibly fatally. Not a Lyathfir; they're built small, barely Jonathan's height, with arms long enough to brush the ground. Not a Pylean; they wear their hair long and dress in leather and metal armor and talk like Conan the Barbarian --

Andrew's eyes widen.

Because he's encountered an atypical Pylean demon once before.

"Wolfram and Hart," he whispers to the book. "Angel's friend."