slayers_desire | trying to make the pieces fit ((Buffyverse plot))

The vampires don't go for a kill right away. They try to tempt memory-April with the smell of blood. A smell that is very tempting to her, especially carrying her child.

Memory-April is sobbing. Trying to break free of the magical bonds. It is a cruel game... her powers can sense the children's fears... but she can't use her powers to protect them.

April, in real-time, is breaking down again over this. She doesn't know what she should be learning from this... and she is sobbing again. "Why did this happen? Why did I have to..."

It wasn't your fault. Even though he's swamped with her memory emotions, Clark still reaches out to her in any way he can. You were stronger than them. You still are.

She starts crying, too, something she didn't do even during her own worst memory. She rubs April's back gently, but she can't give her a satisfactory answer. The only thing she thinks, but can't vocalize, is that terrible, evil abominations occur every day, everywhere, and that she was unlucky enough to be forced to be there.

And as soon as she thinks that, she's sure that that's the answer. "The fight against evil isn't... i-isn't a winning battle, a-all around the world there's genocide, ch-child death, and, and you were just there, April. The fight against evil is... it's walking with the best of you, it's doing everything you can, but no one can save the world. No one."

"You had no control over this," Ed tells her, quietly. "They forced you into this situation. I wasn't there, but I know you, and I know you did everything in your power to avoid hurting anyone, and to get out of that situation. This isn't your fault."

"I didn't know you back then... but I wish I had, so I could've helped you through it."

April takes a few sobbing breaths, trying to calm herself. She embraces the words of support from her husband and her friends. This was a moment of evil...

And she has to face it... so Clark and the other's won't have to.

"I had no control." She speaks. The images flicker. So she says it again, with more conviction. "I had no control. It wasn't my fault!"

"And I am still going to fight with all my heart to bring hope back into this world."

Her words stop the memory, right before one of the children was actually killed. There is a bright flash, and the four of them stand in the white room again.

A glowing blue ball floats in front of Clark. Courage shines from it.

Clark reaches up and takes it with only a moment of hesitation. "Courage..." They've gotten two 'rewards' so far, but he has a feeling that the pattern will continue until they each have one. Which means there is still more to come.

"Are you all okay?"

Oh thank you thank you thank you. She goes weak in the knees with relief that she won't have to watch this slaughter, leans her head briefly against April's shoulder, kisses her cheek. She feels her pulse hammering against her temples, the swish of blood in her veins.

"You're good. You did good," she tells April, as she wipes her eyes on the side of her wrist. She hadn't realized she was still crying.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm holdin' up okay. How's everyone else?"

Ed hugs April again and pulls away, taking a few deep breaths, eyes closed for a moment. He has a strangely serene expression on his face for a moment before he opens his eyes and smiles at Clark. "I'm good. I'm fine." He pauses, then adds, "Thank you again. For enduring all of that for us."

April gives a few more squeezes to both Victor and Ed... but right now she just wants to be in her husband's arms. And rushes over to him, to hug him tightly.

"You were so brave..." She whispers. In a way, she is glad that they didn't have to endure those memories on their own. That he was willing to experience them all, so they could stay together.

Meanwhile, for those who are paying attention to her, Drusilla is currently sitting at a small pink table in the middle of the room. Her doll, Miss Edith, is there with her. They are having a tea party (with no actual tea or cookies in sight)

Clark wraps his arms around her securely, and kisses the top of her head. "I'd do it again if it meant you didn't have to go through it." That goes for all of them, of course.

"I'm really sorry you all had to see that mess, but especially that Clark had to go through it," she says.

She approaches Drusilla's table, glancing at the teacups. She plays pretend with her daughters all the time, so she's not thrown by this sort of thing. "What kinda tea do you have there?"

Ed continues to smile at Clark. "That's why you're family," he tells Clark quietly.

When he spots Drusilla having her little tea party, his expression immediately changes to something much more suspicious. "She is creepy as Hell," he mutters under his breath.

Drusilla smiles up at Victor. "Care to join us? We get so lonely. Miss Edith was being naughty... so she is not allowed any cookies."

April watches from her spot in Clark's arms. A little unnerved herself, just by their whole experience, that she is not quite ready for something else.

"Why the games?" Clark asks Drusilla, still holding both April and the glowing ball that holds courage.

"Sure," she says, taking a little sip from her empty cup, lowering herself to the seat across from her. "Understandable. Sometimes you've just gotta give 'em natural consequences."

Ed doesn't say anything. There's really no need to at this point. He just keeps wary eyes on Drusilla.

Drusilla pours Victor a glass of tea. She leans in, whispering softly, "It can be any kind you like. That is the magic."

Looking up at Clark's question, she cocks her head as if confused. "Why do you breath? Why do you fly? Why do you protect others?"

"Somethings are just the way they have to be..."

"And sometimes, we choose." Her answer does make sense though.

"That is the magic of it," she says, softly, picking up an invisible cookie. She thinks mint tea, and takes a sip.

Ed wouldn't have nearly as much patience with Drusilla as Victor does, if he were in her place. Then again, maybe that's why Victor's humouring her, and Ed isn't. He remains quiet, still watching Dru and Victor, making sure nothing... untoward happens.

They have Hope. They have Courage. What more do they need...? Clearly it's something, or they would've moved on by now.

"Sometimes choice is taken away too..." Drusilla pierces Clark with a slight glare.

She pours three more glasses at the table. Then leans to whisper at Victor. "They don't like me much. Do they still get cookies?"

"Who are you, really?" Clark knows it can't really be Drusilla. Though she's certainly acting like her, from what he knows of her from April.

She leans in, whispers back, "They totally get cookies. But then, I'm very, very fond of them."

She takes three 'cookies' and places them on three little plates.

Sip-sip. "We need to do something else, I know. Can I go next?"

Ed doesn't move to join Victor at the table; he'd prefer to stay as far away from Drusilla as possible. Dru's right—he doesn't like her much. He glances over at Clark when he asks her who she really is, then frowns back in Dru's direction, watching for her reaction.

"I can be whoever I need to be, and am who I am because of the need." Drusilla answers softly.

She smiles at Victor. "Aren't you a smart little lamb. You are next. The task might be easy on your own, but you don't travel alone."

April listens for a while. Then speaks softly. "I think she is the conduit for the White Room. This room was used by Wolf, Ram and Hart to communicate with mortals through a conduit. But since the Demons fled when the Seed of Wonder was destroyed... the conduit must be acting for something else."

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