Kin of the Soul

[lit_gal]

Once upon a time there was Kin of the Heart where Angel and Xander learned to be friends. Now we're working towards something entirely different.

Kin of the Soul
Slash: Angel/Xander, Angel/Spike
Rated: ADULT 
banner by objectivelypink


Well, I asked which WIP ya'll wanted done, and everyone seemed to jump on this bandwagon.  So, by acclamation, I present Kin of the Soul.


( Part One ) ( Part Two ) ( Part Three ) ( Part Four ) ( Part Five ) ( Part Six ) ( Part Seven ) ( Part Eight ) ( Part Nine ) ( Part Ten ) ( Part Eleven ) ( Part Twelve ) ( Part Thirteen ) ( Part Fourteen ) (Part Fifteen ) ( Part Sixteen ) ( Part Seventeen ) ( Part Eighteen ) ( Part Nineteen ) ( Part Twenty) ( Part Twenty-One ) ( Part Twenty-Two ) ( Part Twenty-Three ) ( Part Twenty-Four ) ( Part Twenty-Five ) ( Part Twenty-six ) ( Part Twenty-Seven ) ( Part Twenty-eight ) ( Part Twenty-nine )( Part thirty )  ( Part Thirty-one )  ( Part Thirty-Two ) ( Part Thirty-Three ) ( Part Thirty four )  ( Part Thirty-five ) ( Part Thirty-Six ) ( Part Thirty-Seven ) ( Part Thirty-Eight ) ( Part Thirty-nine ) ( Part Forty ) ( Part Forty-one ) ( Part Forty-two ) ( Part Forty-three ) ( Part Forty-four ) ( Part Forty-five ) ( Part Forty-six )  ( Part Forty-Seven )  ( Part Forty-Eight )



Graham closed the bedroom door behind him. Endgame. Angelus had all of his pieces put away of their little boxes. Everyone except Spike, and Graham had no doubt that he was going to disappear with Cordelia. No way would Cordelia put up with Angelus' mind games. She'd call him out, and two seconds after that, she'd be dead. So this was it. This was the shape of Graham's life for the foreseeable future. And considering how Angelus spoke to Faith, Graham was not sure how this was going to work.

“Babe, you're okay?”

Graham looked at Faith, and for a moment he wasn't sure what to even say. “I should be asking you that.”

“Why? I'm five by five. Little worried about you being in here with the big guy, but you're holding your own.”

“Are you?”

Faith frowned at him like Graham had said something incomprehensible. “I've gotten more bruises sparring with Angel. Hell, I've got more bruises throwing down with Spike.” She grinned at him to let him know how much she’d enjoyed those bruises. “I'm fine.”

Graham moved into the room, closer to Faith. “It's not the bruises of worried about.”

“Oh.” Faith made a face and then she shrugged as if the matter was too small to even bother talking about. “He was poking the daddy issues a little hard.”

“A little? Faith…” Graham stopped he might have a degree in psychology, but he had a feeling that there weren't enough degrees of the world to teach him how to deal with this.

Faith gave him a broad grin. “I'm fine. Fuck, do you really think I'm that breakable?”

“I think we all are if Angelus hits the right buttons.”

The grin fell off Faith's face. “Are you talking about someone in particular or are we just playing with some pessimism?”

Graham rubbed his hand over his face. “I don't know.” They were all so close to some psychological cliff that he didn’t know who he should worry about more. Xander who was trying to turn Angelus into Angel? Wesley who was trying to vanish into the woodwork? Harmony who seemed to think she could annoy Angelus out of killing someone without ending up dead herself? Faith, the woman he loved, who had just been emotionally shredded while he stood by and watched? Worse, he’d knelt for the man who’d done it. He was supposed to be comforting Faith after that brutal psychological attack; instead her arms came around him, holding him close.

“Babe, that was just a little slap and tickle for a demon. Yeah, he threw me.” She shrugged. “But he went out of his way to attack me with words so that he wouldn't have to hit me as hard.”

Graham looked at her. She still looked like Faith, like this beautiful strong woman he'd fallen for. Wesley was a shadow of himself and Xander… If Graham couldn't find a way to fix some of this, Angelus was going to break Xander into so many pieces that the man was never going to recover. But Faith just looked like Faith. Graham let his hands settle at her waist, her body swaying slightly under his touch. She was never completely still, not unless she was asleep.

“When he said that…” Graham could feel his fury rising again. If Xander hadn't taken the knife away from him, he would've shoved it so far in Angelus’ back then he would've been buried wrist-deep in gore.

Faith brought her hands up to cup Graham's face and studied him. “When you told me to run, you meant it.”

“Fuck yes,” Graham agreed.

Faith leaned in and at the same time she pulled him closer until their foreheads rested against each other.” I wouldn't leave you,” she whispered.

“He's counting on that.” The cuff was heavy around Graham's wrist. “You have to promise me that if things go wrong, you have to promise you'll take care of yourself first.”

“Spent a lot of years doing exactly that, Babe. It hasn't turned out well for me. So I think I'll stick with the family. But you—” she gave a huff of laughter and pulled back a little. “You've got to remember that I've got my own touch of demon. What Angelus did down there, that felt a lot like him loving me enough to hold on.”

Graham didn't answer. There wasn’t a psychological theory out there that would allow that to be even a little bit healthy.

“Awww. Now I worried the big bad soldier,” Faith teased.

“A little,” Graham admitted.

Faith stepped back and stretched her body twitching it like a cat that just stood up out of the sun. “I'm fine. Better than, actually. I thought for sure he was to put me in chains and whip the skin off my back.”

Graham didn't say that his fear had included Angelus sleeping with Faith. Emotionally and psychologically, Angelus was still her father. Soul or not, she looked to him for guidance, and Graham just didn't know what would happen if Angelus decided to use sex to cement their bond. Well that just meant that he had a new mission: make sure Angelus understood that having sex with a woman who was essentially your daughter would emotionally destroy her. He had his objective; now he just had to decide how to reach it.

Faith was backing up towards the bed, her body still twisting and twitching. “I think I've missed you even more than running water,” as she said it she stretched her hands over her head so that her shirt lifted up to show a toned midriff.

“That must be true love them,” Graham said with a smile. A little voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like his third-year psychology professor reminded him that sex wasn't going to fix anything. However, it sure wouldn't hurt anything either. Graham moved closer to Faith, his hands reaching for her, his fingers brushing across the bare skin of her stomach. Just then, the door crashed open.

Graham spun around his knife already out of its sheath, and Faith dropped into a fighting crouch. Standing at the open door was Wesley, his hair sticking up at odd angles and his eyes wide.

“She's back.”

Graham's heart drop to about his knees. Fuck. They got Cordelia. As much as Cordelia sometimes annoyed Graham with her attitude, he didn't want to see her in chains. Her or Spike, and if they’d gotten Cordelia, Spike would follow. Angelus might be fairly careful with the rest of them, but he had a history with Spike and a hatred for Cordelia that not going to allow mercy to come into the equation. And Graham was fairly sure that Angelus would kill any of them for trying to get in the middle. That was a problem, because Xander was going to try and get in the middle.

“Who?” Faith demanded.

“Anyanka.”

The name caught Graham so off guard, that for a second he couldn't even process it. Anyanka. The wish demon Anyanka.

“Fuck.” Faith breathed the word, and for a second, no one moved. Then she dashed toward the door, shoving Wesley out of her way so hard that he tumbled back into the hallway and would have fallen if Harmony hadn’t been two steps behind him ready to catch. Graham darted after her. He had no idea what to do when faced with a wish demon, but if Faith was throwing herself in to the middle of the battle, he could, too.

The door to Angelus’ rooms stood open, and Faith crouched outside.

“Hear anything?” Graham whispered, painfully aware that if Angelus caught them spying on his room, they were all going to end up in chains.

Faith shook her head and edged into the sitting area. Despite the sour taste of fear in his mouth, Graham followed.

“Please, don't," Xander’s voice came from the sleeping area, and the rattling that followed could only be chains. Graham froze a half step behind Faith. Shit. He never thought Angelus’ sexual appetites including making Xander beg with such fear and desperation. If anything, Angelus always tried to make Xander happy. He rarely succeeded, but he tried.

"I have alliances who could prove useful to you!" Angelus said, a thin veneer of desperation over a darker anger. Faith turned around to look at Graham who could only shrug. He was officially clueless.

"Why is it that men always overestimate their own power and attractiveness? I am not attracted to you or your alliances, and both are rather unimpressive,” a woman said in a voice that sounded a whole lot like Cordelia, at least in the sort of superior tone she took.

"Angel will leave me. He'll be so afraid of hurting me that he won't be able to make me happy." Xander sounded like he might have a heart attack at any second, and Graham shifted his grip on his knife, prepared for Faith to leap into the room at any time, but she was crouched by the crack of the door, watching without acting.

"He won't have a chance.”

"Angel!" Xander screamed as a whistling sound rose as if the room was having a windstorm. "Angel, don't come back. I'm okay. I'll take care of things here. I promise I'll take care of things. If you're happy, just stay where you are." Chains clinked, at least until the roar of wind grew so loud it drowned it out. Graham moved closer, settling his hand against the small of Faith’s back to let her know he was still here with her. Looking at the door that led into the hall, Graham could see Harmony and Wesley watching with wary eyes.

The roar settled into a whistle and then quieted completely.

"There." The woman sounded very pleased with herself.

“What’s going on?” Graham whispered so softly he wasn’t sure Faith could even hear him.

She tilted her head. “Demon decided to bring back the soul,” she whispered. A wave of relief hit Graham so hard that he nearly went to his knees. The soul was back. Closing his eyes, Graham sent up a prayer of thanks and promised to never again doubt the mercy of God.

"Angel?" Xander voice was calling softly, and Graham’s eyes came open at the tone of horror her could hear. What the hell was going on in that room?

"Well, my work is done,” Anyanka said in a very pleased tone. “I have people to curse and demons to impress with my powers over the heavenly dimensions, so you two have fun."

Graham’s joy froze as he realized what she was saying. She’d pulled Angel’s soul out of heaven. She’d dragged him out of heaven into this… Graham looked around at the terror on Wesley’s face and the tense lines in Faith’s body… this disaster.

“Faith, go,” Graham said, not bothering to whisper.

“I’m not sure… maybe they want…” Faith stood up, clearly no longer on guard. Shoving his knife into its scabbard, Graham rushed past her into the room.

Angel was in the corner, naked and clutching a sheet he’d clearly ripped off the bed. Xander knelt in front of him, hands held out as though in prayer or supplication, but Angel just stared at him as if a kneeling man was the most terrifying site in the world.

“Angel, it’s okay. You’re home. I’m Xander. You remember me, right?” Xander’s voice cracked, the emotion pouring out into every syllable, and Angel flinched back. That led Xander to flinch back as though hit, and then Angel flinched again.

“Xander?” Graham asked, keeping his voice soft. If Angel had been in heaven, Graham wasn’t sure what he thought about being shoved back into the body of a vampire with all the murderous thoughts rattling around in it, but he didn’t want to set Angel off.

“He doesn’t… he acts like he doesn’t know me.” Xander looked up at Graham with such raw pain, but Graham could feel his air go out as though he’d been punched.

“Give him time. Let him adjust,” Graham suggested as he inched forward. Angel had an expression Graham usually saw on people who were mentally ill, unstable and dangerous. Right now he needed to get Xander away, and he could worry about trying to reach Angel once he knew that Xander was safe.

“I told her that I was okay with Angelus. I told her to leave Angel’s soul in heaven.” Xander’s voice had an odd silence in the middle as he tried to suck back in a sob, but the tears flowed anyway. “I didn’t want her to do this.”

“I know,” Graham said softly. None of them consciously wanted to torture Angel by shoving him back into Angelus, but subconsciously… they’d probably all harbored the same fantasy. “Just give him some space,” Graham said as he held out his hand for Xander. Yellow eyes locked onto him, and Graham froze, his hand still outstretched.

“Ye’ll not take him,” Angel roared. Lunging up out of the corner, he reached for Graham.

Dropping his gaze to the floor, Graham tried to stumble back out of the room, but Angel caught him, strong hands dug into his shoulders and something in his right arm popped, sending fire spilling down through the flesh.

“Angel!” Xander pulled on Angel’s arm, yanking at him so hard that Graham could see Angel rock back on his heels, but he didn’t let go.

“What the fuck?” Faith’s voice was behind Graham, and Angel released him so that Graham could fall to his knees, his breath forced out of him by the pain.

“Leave him be,” Angel snarled, and when Graham looked up, Angel was back in the corner, this time Xander trapped behind him as he snarled at Faith.

“Angel? It’s us. Fuck. What the hell is wrong with you?” Faith took a step closer, and Graham could see the coiled fury and fear in every line of Angel’s body.

“Faith, I need you,” Graham said softly.

She turned and looked at him, putting her back to Angel, and for a half second, Graham was terrified that Angel would take that moment to kill her. Maybe Xander had the same thought because he had his arms wrapped tightly around Angel.

“I need some help out of here. Something’s broken,” Graham said as calmly as he could. Faith turned to look at Angel, her body stiffening as she backed away from Angel. As soon as Faith was out of attack range, Angel seemed to lose all interest in her. He turned and brought his hand up to cup the side of Xander’s face.

“You shouldna be here. I deserve this. You should be in heaven. They shouldna have sent you to hell.” Angel’s voice broke with a sob as he slid to the ground, pulling Xander down with him.

“What the fuck?” Faith asked again, but this time she kept her voice low and moved to kneel next to Graham. “What’s broken, Babe?”

“Left shoulder,” Graham answered. “He thinks this is hell. He thinks he’s trapped in hell.” Compared to heaven, this place would look fairly hellish.

“So, what? We’re the demons?” Faith demanded, her face drawn with anger.

“I don’t know if he can even see us. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but we need to give him space,” Graham said as he struggled to stand. His left shoulder and arm burned so badly that Graham couldn’t control a hiss of pain.

Yellow eyes targeted him, watching as Faith tried to help him up.

“Keep him safe,” Graham whispered. If there was some part of Angel that knew what was going on, the first step was to get him to understand they were on the same side. “Keep Xander safe,” Graham repeated.

Faith gave Graham an odd look before she looked at Angel and Xander in the corner. “Yeah, Big-A. Don’t do anything you’ll hate yourself for later. Xander, you okay?”

Xander didn’t answer, and his weak nod wasn’t all that convincing, but Faith gave him a nod of her own before helping Graham out of the room. She toed the door closed once they were clear of the sleeping chamber.

“Is everything okay?” Wesley asked. He hovered at the door to the hallway, clearly afraid to enter without invitation. Either that or Angelus had used the compulsion of the slave spell to order Wesley out.

“Not even by half. Fuck. He broke Graham.”

“Angelus?” Harmony pushed into the room and reached out for Graham’s arm like she was going to tough it.

“Don’t,” Graham warned. “Wesley, I’m going to need something for the pain. Can you tell if a bone is set straight? I don’t want to go to the hospital, but I may need to.”

“Fuck yes, you need to go to the hospital. Don't get testosterone stupid on me now,” Faith said.

“I’d prefer to not have my right arm in blinding pain seconds after having my left one broken,” Graham pointed out with a look down at the cuff locked around his wrist. Then he looked up at Wesley. “Unless you know how to get it off?”

Wesley shook his head. “Only Master Angelus can do that.”

“Well that may be a problem,” Faith said with a snort.

“Why?” Harmony looked at the connecting door. “What’s going on? Is that Anyanka woman in there? If they’re having a threesome with some—”

“Angel’s soul is back,” Graham cut her off. He might understand that for a minion, not getting sexually used was a sign of disrespect, but he really wasn’t up to dealing with it tonight.

“The soul? Anyanka brought the soul back?” Wesley sucked in a breath, and Graham could see the hope etched into his face. Then he looked at Graham oddly. “What exactly happen, then, with your arm.”

Graham leaned into Faith and glanced at the closed door. “The soul’s been in heaven, Wesley. Compared to that, he thinks this is hell.”

“Oh dear,” Wesley said, taking a step back as though physical distance from the problem would save him from it.

“What’s wrong with that?” Harmony asked.

“The problem is that if he thinks this is hell, he seems to think we’re the demons sent to torture him and Xander. He’s in there protecting Xander from us,” Graham said.

“Fucking martyr complex,” Faith muttered, but then she urged him toward the hall. “Wesley, get the pain killers. And can you set a bone?”

“A leg bone, certainly. With a collarbone, I would likely cause internal damage and kill Mr. Miller.”

Collarbone? Graham tried to look down to see how bad the break was that Wesley could identify a collarbone break from halfway across the room.

“Don’t look, Babe. Just don’t look,” Faith said, raising her hand to block his movement, but not before the searing white pain left him stumbling. Harmony grabbed him by the waist and Faith caught his injured arm, cradling it close to his body. “Wesley, you get on that computer. You call Spike, you call Finn, you call anyone you fucking want, but I want an expert on human injury here within an hour or I’m taking it out of your hide.” Fast footsteps suggested that Wesley was running to obey. Normally Graham would tell Faith to be a little more careful of the man, but the pain was distracting him.

“Do you want me to…?”

Graham gasped as he struggled to push the pain to one side.

“I’ve got him,” Faith said. Graham didn’t figure out what she meant until he found himself getting carried for the second time in about a week.

“This is doing bad things to my male ego,” he hissed out between clenched teeth. The adrenaline that had protected him from fully feeling the pain at the time of the injury was wearing off, and he was just now starting to understand how badly he’d been hurt.

“Tough shit. Deal with it,” Faith suggested without much sympathy. “If Wesley doesn’t find someone soon, I’m knocking you out and dragging you to the hospital, cuff or no,” she warned him.

Graham nodded. “Good. Just make sure you knock me out good enough to keep me down,” he suggested. Faith kicked a door, and Graham near threw up as the up and down movement in her arms made his world spin.

“Just don’t move, okay?” Faith asked as she settled him flat on the bed. Graham wanted to curl up in pain, but he gave a short nod that made the fire in his shoulder burn brighter. Yeah, he was out of the game for a while. Hopefully someone else would figure out how to solve this mess because he wasn’t going to be solving anything. Graham just focused on breathing as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Somewhere in there he realized the irony. Angelus had always been careful with him physically. Angel had clearly broken something rather important. Graham really hoped that wasn’t some sort of sign.