starlit_desires | Ficlet: The Haunting of Angel 1/1

Be warned it's angsty.

Title: The Haunting of Angel

Author: Sweetness (aaronlisa@gmail.com)
Pairing: None

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss Whedon and company.

Notes: Set post Not Fade Away. Written for word #79 for Livejournal’s 15minuteficlets .

            He had survived the battle that had brought Wolfram and Hart down. He hadn’t come out of the battle unharmed; yet his scars from it were invisible to the others. The ghosts of the people that he should have been able to save haunted him. Angel first found out when he had fallen into his old bed at the hotel following the fight. And just as he had been on the verge of sleep, he saw Wesley in the doorway. He sat up but Wesley was gone. When he lay back down again, and rolled onto his side, he saw Cordelia with tears in her eyes sitting on the edge of his bed. He got up and went downstairs, trying to escape the visions that he had seen. And on the stairs, he saw the translucent figure of Fred hunched on the stairs watching the lobby, just like she had when they had first brought her here. He discovered a ghostly Gunn polishing his favourite axe by the weapons cabinet, and sitting on one of the couches was Doyle with a look of sadness on his face. Angel had made his way back to his room and had buried his head under his blankets, blaming the ghostly images on the stress of the battle.
            However, as the days passed, he continued to see his dead friends everywhere. And added to their number was Lilah Morgan, a woman that he had never considered anything but an enemy. She was the one who first spoke to him, and accused him of harming her when she had gone to him for help and protection. She accused him of leading her like a lamb to the slaughter. Lilah had laughed at him when he had tried to tell her that it hadn’t been him but Angelus. She told him that he had willingly decided to let Angelus lose when he had agreed to Cordy’s scheme so that made him responsible for her death. She had faded and been replaced by Gunn who had told him that the death of Lilah had lead to the death of the survivors: Fred, Wesley and Gunn. He had been unrelentless in his accusations and had refused to listen to Angel’s protestations.
            From that day, no matter where he went, he was surrounded by their voices, their ghostly forms. Each day they told him that he had failed them, and had in the end failed so many others because of his hatred of Wolfram and Hart. He wasn’t given a moment of peace and finally he walked up to the rooftop. There he waited for dawn and his death. Perhaps in death he could find some release.

**END**