Concerning Ann Grove.
By Lynn K. Hollander
Disclaimer: With 1 notable, obvious exception all the characters in this story belong to Joss Wedon and the fine folks at Mutant Enemy Productions.
Feedback: Can Be sent to the author at flieg@socrates.Berkeley.EDU and it will be given to the author.
[The following are three vignettes involving Ann Grove and her views of life. They bear on the continuing problems involving Ann Grove and the whole Buffy/Angel
universe.]
After WATCHER (fanfic)
"Wesley, do you remember when I told Tara that actions have consequences?"
"Yes. I thought you were rather harsh."
"Yes, I was. It is a lesson no one should forget. Pay heed: Arlack Armel and his fellow demons decided to kill you before they killed the Grandmaster. Arlack Armel
and his fellow demons decided they would kill the Grandmaster because they cannot approach him near enough to replace him. Arlack Armel and most other demons cannot approach the Grandmaster because for over five hundred years, the regalia of his office include an amulet which repels demons."
"Oh. One of yours? Like Angel's?"
"Angel's was a quick and dirty piece of work, designed to do two things: protect Angel's life sustaining magic from the Witches' spell, and not be noticed while it lost
power over the next week. The one I crafted for Mighel -- that took three years just to grow the sapphire."
"How did something you gave a lover, I assume he was a lover," Giles asked, "end up the property of the Council?"
"Yes, he was. Mighel was a Watcher. In 1458, he was elected Grandmaster. He took the reign name 'Renatus'."
"So something you made, five hundred years ago, to protect a lover, had a part in what happened today," Giles said.
"Rather coincidental," Wesley said.
"I'm not done and it gets worse," Ann laughed. "Mighel insisted I must have a name. I suggested Lilith, he rejected that and called me Meliora. By the way, the Grandmaster's amulet opens. Engraved inside are the words 'Meliora me facit'. Look if either of you gets the chance. Meliora is the name of Melusina's sister.
Another sister was Mellisande, who was Tara's aunt's great-great-grandmother. It is also her name."
"Melusina the water fay?" Wesley asked. "The French legend?"
"Yes. Now, the current Mellisande has a younger brother, Berengar, who is a warrior. He came to Earth, early in this century, for advanced studies in war. His sister
insisted he have a minder, and she picked me, because Meliora was listed as one of my use names."
"Was he the one you were with in France? At the Falaise Gap?"
"France, Manchuria, other places. The Falaise Gap was the last time he fought on Earth. It was the last lesson I wanted him to learn, that no matter how hated your enemy is, the enemy's pain is as real as your own."
Ann sipped her changeable wine, and continued: "Now, when Tara's mother left her father, she found shelter with Mellisande. That's another story, and for once I had nothing to do with it. Tara left home and came to Sunnydale, which seriously alarmed her mother and her aunt-by-adoption. At a family council, Berengar
noticed that there was a Slayer and a Watcher living in Sunnydale, and suggested that I, since I was already aware of Watchers and Slayers and still subject to
community service, would be the ideal minder for Tara."
"Which is how we met," Giles said.
"Yes."
After BLOOD TIES:
>>>|||<<<
"Rupert, you collect coins, don't you? You may find this interesting. I've had it for some time."
He did not collect coins, and Ann knew that. He took the coin she held out. "Thank you." He examined it. It carried an unusual Janus head: One face was male, the
other female. The female was Glory, the male Ben. He looked up, but Ann was gone.
>>>|||<<<
After CRUSH:
"Since you're not human, and can't keep him out, I thought you might be at risk."
Ann glanced over at Willow. "Tara didn't accompany you. Why?"
"She said you wouldn't appreciate interference," Willow said.
"She's right about that."
"She also said Spike wouldn't hurt you."
"She's right about that, too. Go home, Willow." Ann waved one finger at Willow, who disappeared. Ann turned on Buffy. "You're very annoying, Buffy. You don't
think before you speak and apparently you don't think about what you speak even after you've said it. I am no more and no less non-human than I have ever been; I
am at no greater or lesser risk from Spike than I ever was. You may have changed your feelings for Spike, but that doesn't mean that he has changed his for you or
his for me. Certainly, I have not changed mine for him."
"Spike is a killer and a treacherous one."
"How many people did you kill last night?"
"None."
"Four. You staked three vampires in the cemetery and another on the way home. I know, they're just vampires. Non-humans. Buffy, if that's why you kill them, why
not me? Gang Long? Dawn?"
"Vampires don't have a soul."
"Do you think Dawn does? Can you tell? I've heard the lack of soul justification for murder for over five centuries. I said it was nonsense then, and I say it's nonsense
now. No one has a soul. We are souls, we are all souls. Sometimes we have bodies, sometimes we don't, and the bodies we do sometimes have, aren't all alike. As
far as souls are concerned, I don't see any difference between Spike and Angel, or you and Spike."
"Spike, with or without a soul, is untrustworthy."
"That's different, that's a matter of personality. However, that's also irrelevant since you don't believe it."
"I do believe it! I know it."
"Which is why you sent your non-human sister to him for protection? As you just pointed out to me, a non-human can be at risk from Spike. Joyce was safe, she's
human and Spike's chip won't let him attack her, but you knew Dawn had no such surety. From the moment you knew Dawn wasn't human, you knew Spike could
kill her, feed on her, whatever, without eliciting so much as a twinge from that damn chip, and that didn't worry you in the least. On some level, Buffy, you knew you
could trust her to him. What happens when he finds out? What does he do? He treats her like his kid sister--escorts her around at night just to keep her safe, keeps
her amused and out of trouble, and gives her good advice on growing up and on getting along with her mother and with you. He was even patient with her crush on
him. Oh, of course he knew."
"No. That's not...I didn't..."
"Quiet," Ann ordered coldly. "What's worse, you knew you could use him, you knew he would help you if you asked. If it had come to a fight then, against Glory, he
would have died defending your family. You see Spike as a killer, you used him because he's a killer and now you say you despise him because he's a killer. You
treat him as a friend when you need an ally and as a pariah when you don't. That's despicable. I like Spike just the way he is: bloody handed, bloody minded,
frequently confused and working hard, if erratically, on becoming a grown-up. In your willingness to take advantage of his affection, to use him, I don't see any
difference at all between you and Drusilla, and I don't find either of you at all admirable at the moment."
"Drusilla's a psychopath and a killer."
"What do you think you are?" Ann asked quietly. "I have two more questions for you: What would you feel for Angel if he had been the one who saw Riley Finn with
the vampire whore? What would you feel for Spike if you knew he loved you, but he didn't know Riley Finn left your bed to go to a vampire?"
"He told you?"
"Buffy, if I want to find something out, I will. I don't need anyone to tell me anything once I start looking. Spike didn't say anything about you, about Finn, about that
nasty little brothel. In case you haven't noticed, he cares about you. If you discover answers for my questions, you can call me; for the moment, go away."
The End
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