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Chapter 17
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Xander was curious about the being housed in the formerly fragile body of Fred Burkle. Spike described her well, both in appearance and fighting skills. Illyria’s lack of social skills, on the other hand, would need to be seen first hand to be fully appreciated, Spike thought.

"She sounds like a comic book heroine with the superpowers and leather body armor and all. I can’t wait to meet her! So, blue hair and some blue on the skin, huh? Sounds pretty sexy to me." Xander looked more than ready to meet the demon god that had become part of the AI team for a short time.

"Let us hope that you don’t see this Illyria in its true form then. There is a reason the locals are awed by it." Giles offered.

"Why do you call her ‘it’? I mean you used to use that term for some vamps and demons, but not in a long time. From what Spike and Angel have said, she sounds like Wonder Woman or Catwoman or something and I wouldn’t call either of them an ‘it’."

"I say ‘it’ because, although now housed in the body of a modified human female, Illyria was called a demon god KING. The implications are male. Heaven only
knows what it considers itself, if such things are important to it at all. In its true form, it resembles neither. I saw etchings of it in the Codified Annals of the Old Ones back in London. Quite tall, having four dicernable arms and a body that most closely resembles twisted snakes or tentacles--it’s rather
hard to tell which. It is also impossible to see the gender, if it even has the same method of reproduction as most demon and human species."

"Why am I getting an image of Galaxy Quest all of a sudden?" Xander shivered at the though of the love scene between the tentacled girl and the human ’engineer’ in the film.

"Because you’re a soddin’ nitwit who gets all his literary references from pop culture? Why don’t we just go and liberate Smurfette and you can ask her
yourself. As the Illyria I know and have fought with, she has all her girly bits now." Spike laughed at Xander and his flashback to younger habits of
thinking. Where had all that newfound maturity gone?

"Yeah, like you don’t wallow in pop culture, too. Smurfette isn’t exactly Aristotle or Shakespeare. There’s a reason you fit in so well with the Scoobies
when we let you. Hard to remember you’re a vampire at all, much less an old one, when you start talking about Passions and Monty Python. Of course, then you have to open your mouth with some story about some wino you ate and remind us all over again." Xander shook his head and laughed with Spike over their unacknowledged similarities.

"Are you quite certain that Illyria won’t give away our presence in some way? Angel seems to think it’s … she’s… cast her lot with the beings in this
dimension. Won’t this compromise our chances of escape?"

"We can trust her. Stakin’ my unlife on it, aren’t I? Even if she does decide to stay here, she won’t be givin’ us up. She was just startin’ to feel human-like emotions there at the end. Didn’t like ‘em much and understood ‘em even less, but was havin’ ‘em anyway. Tore her up losin’ Percy like that. Made her right crazy to kill. Worried about Charlie, too. She’ll be glad to hear he’s doin’ fine. Yeah, Angel, he’ll be touched to hear that you asked. Charles said to say … well, he’ll tell you himself when you get back to L.A. You’ll be wantin’ to thank him if we get out of here with all our bits and pieces intact."

When darkness fell at long last, Spike went with Angel to the section of the stone palace that served as home to Illyria. Spike was still convinced they
could talk her into returning with them to their home dimension. She was a formidable warrior and since the battle was still engaged with the forces of the Senior Partners, her help would be invaluable. Spike felt certain that the blue demon was unlikely to feel any more at home in this dimension than in their own. She had developed a few beginning relationships in theirs, however. That was his trump card.

~~~
Illyria stood on her roof, gazing at the unfamiliar sky. It had a different pattern of constellations from her own time, even from the night sky she had
begun to become familiar with after her recent transformation. She remembered standing on another roof with Wesley as he tried to ease her feelings of claustrophobia from being contained in such a small and frail shell as the Burkle one. She was still strangely feeling an emptiness and gnawing pain at the memory of Wesley’s death. She did not like the feeling.

Her kingdom of Vahla ha’nesh was gone forever and her worshipers were no more. She was a living anachronism with no real place or purpose. The ooze that had been as scum to her in her prime were now the predominate species, even here in this dimension. The Old Ones that ruled this place were the only beings similar to her in abilities and history. Yet even they were new in comparison to the glory that was herself. They were not much more than the humans with whom she had been forced to cohabit in the other dimension. None of these had the whimsical ability to amuse as her pet, the halfbreed, however. None had yet to touch her emotions like Wesley and Gunn either.

There were times when Illyria longed for the days of quiet nothingness that made up existence in the Deeper Well. At least then there had been vague thoughts of
futures that were no longer possible. All had changed while she slept.

Illyria had begun to think of herself in terms that fit her new body. She was slightly uneasy with that development and wondered at times how much of the Fred
Burkle person remained with her. Illyria had never needed introspection before. It simply WAS. There was no questioning of who or what that meant, no
wondering of what choices might be made. It was both uncomfortable and oddly exciting at the same time to be experiencing such thoughts.

The combination of the hormones this body produced and memories left over from the Burkle entity had been confusing in the extreme to the once powerful demon
god. Finally it had become necessary to make some choices if sanity was to remain.

The traitor to his kind who had released Illyria from the Deeper Well had chosen this form to house his god without consulting Illyria about that choice. Now
that it had been made, Illyria had to decide what to do about adjustment. This resulted in a grudging embrace of those elements specific to the shell. There would most likely always be aspects that would not feel remotely natural, or even pleasant, but Illyria was on her way to acceptance at last.

Her world and ways had passed. She, however, had not. She had power and intelligence and eons of experience to draw from. She could make her place where she chose, as she chose. As she tilted her head and surveyed this world around her, a slight smile graced her lovely face.

~~~
Spike saw her in the moonlight, gazing out as if she were the queen of this world granting her subjects a rare and prized view of her benevolent beauty. The moon’s light bathed her with a softness that belied her strength and power. Her stillness lent a grace to her form that the awkward movements of her still
unfamiliar human body robbed of her. She was stunning. Fred had been a very pretty girl; this one, however, was on the level of a goddess, as was fitting.

Spike’s inner William rejoiced at the sight. He had always loved surrounding himself with things of beauty. Buffy would always have his heart, but that
didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate the magnificence of his blue goddess.

"Think she’s planning where to set up a temple to herself?" Angel just didn’t seem to see the poetry of the sight before them. He had recognized the power but missed the lyrical beauty.

"No. More like she’s sussin’ out her place in the universe. Blue’s about a lot more than lookin’ for a bunch of mindless minions. You don’t give her nearly
enough credit." Spike had learned to observe Illyria well when he found himself put in charge of studying and testing her.

"Lotta depth in that one, not crazy and completely self-indulgent like Glory. Oh yeah, that was one of those life and death battles you managed to skip out
on when Buffy needed help. You missed quite a party there. ‘Course it ended badly, but it had its moments." Spike briefly let himself remember the first tender kiss he ever received from Buffy after Glory had tried to torture the information she wanted out of the stubborn, lovesick vampire.

"You know, for bein’ the one great love of Buffy’s life, you sure opted out on a lot of it", Spike continued. "I mean L.A. was only, what, a couple of hours away from Sunnydale and you couldn’t show up to lend a hand from time to time? Bad enough Finn left when he did, what with Joyce just out of hospital,still in a bad way and Glory hot after the Bit. Got his feelings hurt and left Buffy to deal with a hellbitch that had beaten her several times already. Least he didn’t profess to be her eternal soul mate like you. Looks to me like you didn’t need Junior Watcher Boy telling you to move on, you already had." Spike moved ahead of Angel now their target was in view.

"You don’t know, Spike. It wasn’t easy leaving Buffy. It was for her own good. She needed a chance for a normal life, things I could never give her. Neither can you for that matter. I was unselfish enough to leave her to find what she needed." Angel was indignant. Spike should recognize the supreme sacrifice Angel had made to give up his precious love for her own good.

"Tell yourself that all you like, mate. Buffy’s not normal and’ll never have what you call a normal life. Best chance she has for a life at all is someone who can match her for strength an skill. If you’d loved her, you’d have stayed close, or at least showed up to make sure nothin’ nasty offed her. Tell yourself whatever you want about the great sacrifice, truth is you were just a selfish bastard that couldn’t stand bein’ near her with the curse problem ruinin’ your good times."

Angel looked daggers at Spike. He was angry, all the more so because on some level he recognized some truth in what Spike had said. "You stayed away too after you came back so does that make you selfish? Not so superior are you?"

"I stayed away for lots of reasons that made sense at the time. Lookin’ back I’m thinkin’ I was wrong....it happens. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have another chance and make it right. Give her the chance to decide if I stay or go instead of actin’ like you and makin’ the choice for her. Guess I was more scared then selfish, but you’ve got a point. You’ll never hear me admit that again, by the way. But I am right, you already moved on so don’t play the tragic lost love ‘cause I’m not buying." Spike had tired of the conversation. There was no way the poof would ever see himself as the less than perfect hero as long as he kept making "Angel" all good and "Angelus" the bad and never the twain shall meet. His sire needed some couch time with a good therapist.

"Yeah, well ….. I only wanted to encourage Buffy to move on too!" Angel realized it sounded lame, it did to him as well. Something about Buffy, and Spike for that matter, made him act just like a petty twelve year old. He hated that.

"Time to get to work on project Bluebird. You wait here tellin’ yourself lies and I’ll go convince Illyria that she’ll have a better class of creature to step on in our dimension." Spike walked off towards the building with the demon god on the roof.

Spike climbed the stone walls that made up the perimeter of Illyria’s abode. He lightly dropped into a cat-like crouch when he vaulted over the ledge to the
roof. Illyria had spotted him long before he had begun his climb. Not much got past Blue.

"You have come to this dimension to retrieve your leader? He is undamaged. This world was to be his punishment by the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart. I have
intervened. They have gained power from the time they were barely above a vampire, but they are as nothing to me, even in this shell. They sought to curb
my powers before and failed. They do well to fear me. Why do you seek me, halfbreed?

"First off, Blue, I told you before the Poof is NOT my leader. Came to spring both of you. You just think you want to stay here. What is there for a being like yourself here? This is more primitive than my dimension, and that’s sayin’ somethin’. You’d be bored here in a month! Come on, you’re bored already. I can see it. You’ve already terrorized the natives with the floor show of your glorious normal appearance, what’s left for you here? Can’t see you cozying up to what passes for gods here."

"There is truth in the words you speak. They are not fit for the name god. They bowed before me in days gone past. I devoured many of their kind just as
these lungs I now have devour air. I am not pleased with this place. There is no place worthy of me."

"Come on, little Shiva, you’ve missed us, admit it! I saw the fire in your eyes when we’d spar. You were startin’ to fit in real nice, too. Can’t see you
givin’ up on the challenge of learnin’ how to handle that body you took over. Lots of people loved that little girl. If we had to lose her, least you can do
is put that body to good use. Besides, I never thought you’d give up before the battle’s even over. These bastards that sent you here are still runnin’ about loose in my dimension. They killed Wesley, nearly done in Charlie Boy, shipped you off here with the bleedin’ ponce who started the whole war. You tellin’ me you’re gonna’ let them get away with that? Gonna retire in an Aztec village here, havin’ no company but these wankers, while the Senior Partner’s yuk it
up in my world?"

"Again you speak truth. There must be payment for what was done to Wesley. There must be pain. I am bothered that it matters to me, but it does." Illyria
tilted her head and let her eyes go out of focus. It was as if she were searching within herself to try to understand her emotional reaction to the murder of the human she had known for so short a time. "He was worth more than all of them combined and should be honored in his world. This is a worthy endeavor. They will learn to fear me once again. I shall crush the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart beneath my feet and use their bones for mortar. Their time is at an end and my time is just beginning."

"Yeah, well, I didn’t really mean for you to decide to replace ‘em. Wouldn’t mind your helpin’ to bring ‘em down though. Sounds like you’ve got a lot more
info on ‘em than we ever thought to ask about. As for the rest, maybe you should keep doing that navel gazin’ to get in touch with your inner Fred first."

"Why would one gaze at the tied-off remains of an umbilical cord ? That is useless, having no value."

"Figure of speech, Blue. Another reason for you to search out the memories you have of Fred. Never mind. You’ll do just fine. Just need a bit of time to
get used to the new you’s all. What say we take a leap of faith off this roof and I introduce you to a couple of other humans to annoy you. The younger one’ll send you right round the bend; the older git’s likely to remind you a bit of Wesley."

~~~
Xander felt like Michael Corleone when he saw Appolonia in the first Godfather movie. His first look at Illyria coming up the path with Spike and Angel made him feel like he’d been hit with a lightning bolt. Sure, he’d looked at women since losing Anya, even dated a few. But this…this was like a walking wet dream. She was every comic book kick-ass superwoman he’d ever fantasized about since puberty. Beautiful and deadly, with an aura of power about her that it didn’t take a witch to see. Xander was in love. He could live with tentacles; hell, wasn’t he a demon magnet anyway?

"This must be Illyria. I must admit to a certain fascination about you. I hope we will have a chance to talk at length later." Giles was nearly bouncing in his excitement. In typical Watcher manner, it was only to be seen in his eyes, his body remained rigid as always.

"My pet has told me you are similar to my Wesley. I shall consider your request in his honor."

"Quite. Pet, did you say?" Giles looked from Angel to Spike in confusion.

"That’d be me, Rupes. Blue took a special likin’ to me while we sparred. Shows what good taste she has, don’t it?"

"Shows she has you in the right perspective, Spike", said Angel. He was more than a bit upset that it had taken Spike such a short time to convince Illyria to come with them when he had been trying for months to get her to merely consider it. "’Pet’ is about right."

"The vampire is displeased that his entreaties went unheeded. You are too insignificant to have such pride. The halfbreed spoke logic and presented a
challenge. I grow weary of this place and desire to leave."

"Hello, I’m Xander. Nice to meet you, your goddessness." Xander stood before Illyria, looking completely enraptured.

Spike let out a bark of laughter at the look on the boy’s face. "Ambitious bloke, aren’t you. Gotta give it to you, you aim high, Whelp."

"The one-eyed human recognizes my glory in spite of the smallness of its container. He has greater vision than many with two eyes. He shall be my guide as I adapt."

"What is it with you and demons? Never seen the like of it. The council should study you, Xander. It’s really quite remarkable." Giles shook his head in amazement at the instant connection between the human and the god.

"Am I missing something here?" Angel was confused by the undercurrent of the conversation.

"Usually are", Spike replied. "Let’s just say this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"That’s from Casablanca. I saw that when it first came out! See, I’m not missing anything." Angel sounded indignant.

~~~
At daybreak, Illyria went to the Grand Hall and summoned the brothers Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. As she had implied to Spike the night before, these gods showed a deference to Illyria that spoke much of the power of the ancient god king.

"I grow weary of this world. We will leave for the dimension of these creatures now. You will order your puny warriors not to interfere. Dues should be paid,
however, so here is the tribute for those I am allied with here. There shall be no payment for myself, as I come and go at my own choosing. I shall accept
tribute from you as is MY due. I honor you by allowing you to continue to rule here. You should be crushed for the insects you are for daring to take action against me in the employ of such insignificant ooze as the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart. I expect you to give me whatever pathetic worthless things hold value here to try to match my glory."

The brother gods looked oddly relieved at the prospect of Illyria leaving their world. It would have only been a matter of time before she would have usurped their powers there and reduced their status to lackeys. The people gathered in this world for the purpose of adoring THEM had already been awed by the sight of Illyria in all her tentacled glory and her powers were still infinitely stronger than theirs, even combined. What was precious metal compared to regaining their position in their own world. Besides, she might just break the yoke of Wolfram and Hart on this dimension and the brothers could rule with no interference from them. Yes, it would be a good thing to see the back of this one.

They left in safety, having handed over four of Gunn’s hearts and collected more gold and silver than they could fit into their packs.


"So we could’ve just walked out of here anytime? Why didn’t you tell me that, Illyria. I was kept in chains!" Angel was steaming.

Illyria cocked her head and studied the vampire. "You are insolent and too full of your own importance. You do not command me. You do not lead me. I do as I
choose and crush all who dare defy me. You are nothing but walking ash and you dare to question me? Did you kneel before me and ask that I intercede for
you? Did you show deference to my magnificence and power? You have much to learn, vampire."

"Yeah, that’s tellin’ him, Blue. Poofter always did get a bit above himself."

"You amuse me, halfbreed, but heed my words as well. You will not distract me with Coot Bandicot again. You are my pet, but do not try my patience too far."

"You play Crash Bandicoot? What level did you get to? I think I can show you a few tricks to the game. I mean if I’m going to guide you, that ought to include the better video games, too." Xander had carefully not bothered to point out Illyria’s misnaming of the video game. He remembered how hard adjusting to being a human could be. It had taken years for Anya to come close to fitting in. Xander could do this, he had done it before. He could lead Illyria to her humanity, he could have a purpose again.

Illyria simply looked at the human with the eye patch and wondered again at why she had chosen to throw her lot in with such as these.