Chapter Five:
Confessional

by Angie, Chris, and Rachel

I don't want to be doing this. I don't want to be here. This... This is all -nothing-. Sighing and biting her lip, Rayya Veritas leaned against a tree on the Hollins campus. She hardly knew why she was out tonight; she was alone, hadn't called Gwyn or Theresa or anyone to go out with her. She couldn't stand the thought of looking into their eyes tonight. Especially not Gwyn. Gwyn -knew-. Deep down, she knew that she was being self-pitying and sulky; most of her didn't care at the moment. She had spent days, -weeks-, being Rayya for everyone, being the happy-go-lucky girl that they loved. Julius knew better. Now Gwyn knew better. No one else had to know, though. She had a job to do; she had to help protect her friends. Gwyn would take care of -him-.

With another soft sigh, Rayya looked up at a still-lighted window in the nearby dorm. Her old room. Shaking her head and turning away, the pretty brunette twisted the ring on her finger, then she reached out, her small hand seeming to disappear into thin air. When she drew her hand back, though, there was a heavy gold chalice clutched in it. Lady Bacchus, she thought, suddenly tired. It's time to get my work clothing on...

"Wow. Back at college," Ardousius sighed, shaking his head with the faintest trace of a grin on his chubby face. "Kinda hoped I had left this place behind twenty years or so ago." he chuckled. Adjusting his goggles on his face, Ardousius turned to the senshi beside him. "So, Gabriel, you go here?"

"Who, me? Nah, this is a -girls- college, Ardousius. A few guys go here, but it's mostly girls. It was closer to your place than Roanoke College, where I go," answered Gabriel Knight, his armlets and his blue and hazel eyes shining in the dim moonlight. "It's a nice, open area, though. Not bad for a patrol," he said, taking his sword out, placing its tip on the ground, and leaning on it. "Didn't want too much for your first real time out. Anyway, it's about time I patrolled with someone else."

"Girls college, you say?" Ardousius echoed, eyebrows going up some. The grin was back on his face. "I say we dump patrolling and meet some -ladies-, eh?" he suggested, laughing loudly. He gave Gabriel a hardy pat on the shoulder and a wink. "Or do they just come to you?"

Gabriel blushed a bit at Ardousius' comment. "Well... err... Yeah. I've had the most -interesting- times with women while on patrol. One of them made me fall in love with her teammate. She had all this long black hair, and green eyes, and she was dripping wet in this see-through..." he remembered, then suddenly turned five shades of red, ducked his head, and grinned sheepishly.

Ardousius blinked at that. "Wow," he said, amazed. "I gotta patrol more often. Her teammate made you fall in love with her, eh? You lucky little man," Ardousius shook his head and pat him on the shoulder again. "Let's hope we meet -that- duo again, eh?"

"Lucky?" said Gabriel, raising his eyebrow. "Um, sure thing, Ardousius. They're not -all- goddesses of love, you know. Some of them are a little more dangerous. Heck, one of your teammates is an Archangel of death. You never know what you're going to meet up with."

"That's true," Ardousius replied thoughtfully, scratching his neck. "Still! Can't go around being a pessimist, right? Hey, if the girls cute, I'd rather not fight anyway!" Ardousius held up one finger and smiled. "Rule number one of getting a girl: don't fight. Even if they -are- the Archangel of death or goddess of love or what have you."

"Too bad that doesn't apply with senshi battles, Ardousius. Now, let's stop gabbing, and start patrolling, shall we?" He took his sword, and placed it back into its sheath, and looked at the other Angelus expectantly.

"Right, you're the boss," Ardousius sighed and began to walk, hands in his pockets. "D'you think we'll actually meet someone here, though? I mean, it's kind a weird place for some senshi to patrol and all."

"You never know," came his answer. "Sometimes I'll go weeks, and nothing, then suddenly, -bam-, there's another senshi on another team. Never really know when or where. All chance, really. For all I know, we could run across the Grigori fall retreat, or all we'll see is a couple of rabbits," Gabriel shrugged.

The soft snap of a twig was their only warning as Gabriel finished his explanation; suddenly, a petite brunette - all glittering gold and diaphanous white and clinging maroon - stepped from behind a tree. A stray breeze only served to emphasize just how short and insubstantial her little over-toga was. Her huge violet eyes studied them solemnly as she carefully adjusted her position, sandaled feet planted firmly. "Hello," she murmured. "I guess it's too much to hope that you're long-lost friends of mine?"

"Holy moly," Ardousius exclaimed. His jaw was gaping open and he seemed momentarily stunned. "Baby, if you want me to be your friend, I will -so- happily oblige." he muttered, eyes huge beneath the thick lenses of his goggles.

Bacchus smiled faintly at the man. "That'd be nice." Turning, she eyed Gabriel warily. "And you are?"

"Gabriel Knight and this is Ardousius," he answered, with a slight nod of his head to the older man next to him. "But, I believe that the lady has yet to introduce herself." Gabriel had to admit -- she filled her swimsuit nicely, and found his tongue had refused to work before now. At least he wasn't visibly drooling like the Angelus in green.

She ducked a slight curtsy, ponytail falling over her shoulder. "Lady Bacchus." She paused, then straightened. "Romanus," she added softly. "You're not Romanus, though, are you?"

"Unfortunately not." Ardousius adjusted his goggles on his face again - sheesh, he'd have to loosen the strap in the back next time - and shrugged. "We're Angelus. Though I'd call you the only angel here, baby." He laughed and winked suggestively at the young Romanus.

She laughed a little at that and smiled again. Almost absently, she spun a golden chalice in a small hand as she studied the two men in front of her. "So we've got two Angelus gentlemen and a Romanus Lady," she concluded. Teasingly, she inhaled and exhaled in a deep sigh. "Gee, such a shame I left my screaming guardian at home, huh?"

"Yes, and if I'd have brought mine, they'd both be screaming at each other. No matter," said Gabriel seriously, drawing his sword from its sheath. "We've a duty to perform. I'm sorry about this," he muttered, as he pointed the sword at her.

"Gabriel," the older senshi began hesitantly, frown on his face. "I'm not so sure I wanna attack her, or if I want you to. I mean... can't we just let her go or ask her to let us go? She's cute and it kinda seems like a shame to make such a bad first impression." he whispered, fidgeting slightly.

It felt odd telling someone twice his age what he should be doing, but in this case, he -was- the more experienced senshi. Gabriel turned back towards his companion, and said, "I don't really want to, either, but it's out duty. Clare's told me a thousand times; I serve a higher purpose. Wine," Gabriel said, turning back towards Bacchus, his sword still glinting in the moonlight, "meet Water, and my friend Motherhood. Not the best mix, I'm afraid, but shall we?"

Bacchus sighed heavily and nodded. "I don't want to but you're not going to let me walk away, are you?" Reaching down, she did something complicated at her hip and, when she lifted her hands to the forefront again, the chalice was hanging at her hip. "Just remember that you wanted this," she whispered. "Not me." Suddenly, she rose up on her toes, spun in a neat pirouette, and, stopping to face them again, she thrust her hands out, glowing with purple light. "Bacchanal Frenzy!" A viper-quick streamer of purple light exploded, streaking towards Gabriel.

'Should have seen that coming. Why didn't I attack first?' he thought, as the violet light surrounded him, and he suddenly had an incredible urge to dance. He found his feet moving on their own accord, and then his arms went too. His sword went flying out of his hands, and landed about ten yards away, clattering to the pavement, and barely missing Ardousius' head as it sailed by.

To the casual observer, it looked as if Gabriel was trying to hurtle himself while still staying in place, flailing his arms all the while. "I'm -skanking-?" he gasped out as he jumped around in a fury of scarlet and golden arms and legs. "Ardousius, now would be the time to do something," he said, as he suddenly threw in a little break dancing into the combo, and did the splits.

Ardousius was nearly too busy laughing at this point to hear what Gabriel had said, but once he collected himself he nodded. "I'll... see what I can do, okay?" he murmured, stifling another giggle at the madly dancing angel of water. "Hey!" he yelled, calling attention to himself. With quick strides, he pointed a finger accusingly at Bacchus and began his tirade power, "Ardousius gonna have to annoy you, girlie. Have you been brushing your teeth? My god, will you -look- at that outfit? What will your parents think? And your aunts and your uncles and even your great-grandma Bertha I know you once had? Do you call her any more? You know she misses you, sweetie, you should send her a letter. Or, better yet, visit her! What a bad person you are, ignoring your family. Have you been taking care of your hair? It looks absolutely filthy. Don't protest, don't protest! We'll have to cut it, too, it's honestly -much- too long. Don't gawk, dear, it's bad manners. Are you slouching? In -my- presence? Straighten up, girl, straighten up! No man likes a sloucher! Speaking of which, are you taking care of your four children? You don't have four children? That's horrible! Go off and have children! What in the world are you standing here for, when you should be off -mothering- people?" Ardousius stopped, finally, and drew in a long breath. Rubbing his aching jaw muscles, he stepped back from Bacchus, who had been listening to him like a guilty child for the past three and a half minutes. "God, I don't wanna do that anymore," he complained, rubbing his cheeks unhappily.

Somewhere in the middle of his tirade, Bacchus' attention had wavered and the purple light slowly faded into nothingness, releasing the other Angelus. Slowly, she turned to Ardousius, violet eyes suddenly shining with held-in-check tears. "I'm sorry," she breathed. "I'll... I'll do better. I'll..." Her jaw tightened and her hands whipped up, a ball of glowing white light between her palms. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

"Huh?" Ardousius gasped, eyes drawn to the ball of light. Despite the pain in his jaw, he found his mouth dropping wide open as he stared, frightened, at the ball of light.

Suddenly, Bacchus drew her arm back and threw, whipping the ball of swirling white light towards the gaping Angelus. "Morning After!"

Ardousius tried to scramble out of the way but far too late, the ball struck him squarely. For a single second, Ardousius didn't feel anything. Then he got this -monstrosity- of a migraine. With a grunt, he put his hand to his forehead and squeezed, as if that would stop the pain.

That's when his stomach started doing somersaults. Dancing to a rhythm entirely its own, Ardousius's stomach pitched back and forth with pure, hung-over-esque fervor, tinting the senshi's cheeks green as he doubled over. "Oogh," he managed, eyes glazed over. "I don't feel so good, I think," he managed, and suddenly made a mad dash for a nearby bush.

The brunette watched him for a moment, eyes full of sympathy. Then she turned on her heel to study Gabriel. "Now?" she asked softly. "Wanna call it off and check on your poor teammate?"

"I'm tired of running away," came his quiet answer. He still hadn't managed to get to his sword, because he'd been watching Ardousius, and panting from all of his dancing. At the moment, he could only think of one thing to do. He stepped up closer to her, sandaled feet moving slowly over the grass, placed his index finger to the corner of his eye, and cast a shining droplet at Bacchus.

Wide-eyed, she seemed to freeze as the tear hurtled towards her. When it connected, though, her eyes slammed shut and a pained, high- noted wail slid from her lips, wordless and old. Before the Angelus' eyes, she crumpled in on herself, falling into a loose-limbed heap. Within seconds, she was rocking in place and rubbing her hands together desperately. "I didn't mean to," she murmured, raw-voiced and quick and breathless. "It was an accident, oh, God, please, don't, nononono, don't. Don't fight, don't hurt, don't... Oh, God, oh, God... Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." Tears ran down her face, her voice growing progressively scratchier. "I didn't mean for you to fall. I didn't want to let you. You slipped. You slipped. I didn't push. I got scared. You hurt... You hurt her and I didn't know what to do and and and..." Her hands slid up the sides of her face and her thin fingers tangled in the side-pieces of her hair, pulling nervously. "And I didn't meant to break you, love, didn't mean to hurt you, too... Oh, please, please..." She bit down hard on her lip, drawing blood, sobbing raggedly. "Please."

Gabriel looked down at the sobbing girl not more than ten feet away from him, in shock. Nothing like this had ever happened before -- pain, and remorse, and penance, and sorrow. He could almost feel it from where he was standing. That's when he noticed the trickle of blood slowly rolling down her chin, like a crimson snake, working its way down her face. "Oh, God, what did I do..." he whispered, looking at the hand that had cast the tear.

Ardousius staggered out from behind the bush, face still slightly green but at least his stomach was performing amazing feats anymore. Warily, he moved to Gabriel, not noticing the whimpering Bacchus until after a few minutes. "Oh god," he repeated, eyes huge underneath the goggles. "Jeeze, Gabe, what the hell did you do to her?" he whispered. His doctor instinct took over - the girl was in pain, he had to remedy that somehow - and he kneeled next to her. She was bleeding a little from her lip. Maybe he could help with that. "Hold still," he muttered, not sure if she could hear him at her stage but trying anyway. Carefully he pressed a finger to her split and bleeding lip and concentrated. A warm, gentle teal glow emitted from his finger and poured slowly into Bacchus's lip wound, causing it to close slowly. "There!" he said, satisifed. Standing up, he stood at ready in case he needed to help her again, waiting for her to stop writhing.

"What -did- I do?" he asked himself softly. He looked down at the still sobbing senshi, and found his heart breaking. He hadn't meant to do anything like that, this had never happened before. He kneeled down in front of her, placed his hands on her shoulders, and tried to get her to look at him. "I forgive you, I forgive you," he whispered. "Can you forgive me?" this time real tears rimming his eyes.

With an incoherent sob, the petite brunette pitched forward, directly into her assailant grip. Her hands had left her hair and were again rubbing together frantically.

"Bacchus? Look at me," Gabriel said, shaking her shoulders. "Please, look at me. Come on..." He then grabbed her hands, and stopped her from wringing them together again. "Listen to me, I'm sorry. I forgive you. I forgive you. Snap out of it. Look at me. You didn't mean to, it wasn't your fault. Please, I forgive you."

Her head held low, she drew a shuddering breath. "My fault, my fault," she whispered. "I forgive you." Her small hands tightened around his, squeezing.

"Come on, let's get you standing, okay?" he asked softly, and he stood, and he brought her to her feet. She was leaning rather heavily on his shoulder, and still sighing heavily. "Um, Ardousius, what should I do?"

"Here, let me see," Ardousius replied, seizing control of the situation. Gently leaning Bacchus on to his own shoulder, he felt her cheeks and then his own, comparing quietly. "She's not unusually hot... but she's not looking too good. I don't like her color. Let's put her back down. She might get lightheaded standing up." Carefully, he moved her back down to the ground and took her wrist in his hand, feeling her pulse. "It's faster than it should be, but again, not too dangerous. Ask her questions. See if she responds, it means she's getting back some of her rational thought. Try to stay off the topic of forgiveness, she seems upset over it." Ardousius paused, hands on his forehead, thinking. "This would be a hell of a lot easier if I knew what was - wrong-, what did you -do- to her?" he asked, shaking his head slowly.

"Well," Gabriel started sheepishly, "without my sword, I did the only thing I -could- do. I," he said hesitantly, "made her physically conscious of her sins." He watched as the other Angelus winced when he said that. "Yeah, I know... It's what I do." Gabriel then turned his attention back to the sitting senshi on the ground, and nervously said, "So, um, Romanus, huh? Never met one of those before. So, do you, umm, like pie?" As the words left his mouth, he suddenly realized just how stupid he sounded, and he shook his head slightly.

His words seemed to penetrate some of the fog surrounding the young woman's brain, though, and she nodded slowly. Her hands fell to her sides and gripped spastically at the grass beneath her.

"Keep talking," Ardousius commanded, his hands moving to Bacchus's. Unknowingly tapping a bit into his powers, his voice took on a nearly lullaby quality, like a mother trying to calm a child. "Shh, hon, don't worry. We'll take care of you," he murmured soothingly, hands gently pressing on hers, trying to calm their movement. "Keep talking." he said again, giving Gabriel a slight nod.

Gabriel gave Ardousius a nervous grin, and continued, holding her hand as he did so. "So, um, I have a guardian. You do too, huh? Is it a boy, or a girl guardian?"

"'S a boy," Bacchus murmured. "He... He's g-gonna be -mad- at me n- now."

"Oh, I'm sure he won't be mad with you," answered Gabriel. "I mean, if there's anyone he should be mad at, it's me. Let him give me the tongue lashing."

She looked up slightly, violet eyes more focused, a twitch of her full mouth that was probably meant to be a smile.

"Just let that cat, or dog, or rodent, or, Bacchus, hmm? Umm... dolphin, maybe? Just let that dolphin give me what's coming," he said seriously.

An uncertain giggle slipped from her and her fingers tightened on his. "Y-you don't want that. He's nasty sometimes."

Ardousius smiled at Gabriel Knight. "Good job, couldn't have done better myself." he said with approval. "Okay, Miss Bacchus, I need you to me a big favor. Mind standing up with me and Gabe over here? We'll help you all you need."

She nodded slowly and carefully shifted up onto her knees. Then her strength seemed to give out and she slouched. "A minute."

"Take your time," Ardousius scolded, but his expression was warm and kindly. "We've got no other appointments, so go as slow as you need."

"Appointments?" Gabriel wondered out loud. Suddenly it clicked; he was a doctor in real life. He did this sort of thing for a living. "Um, yeah, take your time," he mirrored.

"I... Thank you," Bacchus whispered. Then she looked up, holding out a hand in silent request.

Ardousius beamed took her hand firmly, slowly and carefully leading her onto her feet, his fellow Angelus helping when he was needed. "Not a problem," he said with a wink. "Always happy to help out pretty damsels in distress."

A smile, stronger than the earlier attempts and even nearing flirty, met his comment before she looked down at the ground to watch her feet steadily.

"Ardy, you're twice her age. Not that you're old, or anything, it's just..." Gabriel trailed off. "Never mind," he added in quickly. "So, yeah, I didn't know that what I did would affect you so much. Sorry about that," he said, his eye colors shifting sides as he did so.

"It's..." Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she was forced to lean into Gabriel slightly, head almost on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. It's all this war and stupidity," she murmured, gentle voice rubbed raw from her early sobs and screams.

Gabriel's eyebrows rose up a bit, and his cheeks tinged pink. "You're not wearing much," he observed. Now, feeling -completely- embarrassed, his cheeks went fully red and he started stammering. "I, I didn't mean it that way, it's just that, you're, you're all there, and, and you've got, you know," he promptly shut his mouth, grimaced, and said, "I think I'll shut up now," and continued to try and -not- look at what was in the maroon swimsuit inches from his face.

The petite brunette giggled, a tiny cough interrupting her after a moment. "I know," she replied ruefully, "I look awful."

Ardousius put on his most charming grin and laughed. "My dear, I could think of over a hundred words to describe you, and I promise you, awful isn't one of them."

"What about cheap theme-restaurant waitress?"

Ardousius shook his head. "Nope, hadn't thought up that one either. Though that's clever, I'll have to use that sometime." he chuckled. His face suddenly became serious, though, as he inspected her closely. "Are you hurt anywhere? Bruises? Cuts? Anything I can help with?"

She shook her head carefully, still aware of a lingering ache in her temples. "No, no thank you, sweetie," she murmured. "I'll live."

By this point, Gabriel had gotten over some of his embarrassment enough to speak. "Will you be alright by yourself?" he asked.

Bacchus hesitated for a moment, gauging herself. Then she smiled up at the Angelus. "I should be just fine, thank you." Slowly, she eased away from his supporting arm to stand on her own. "See? Good as new, hon." With a sweet smile, she reached out and squeezed Gabriel's arm. "Thank you."

Gabriel grinned a rather stupid looking smile, and looked down, cheeks tinged red again. "Welcome."

Ardousius laughed and clapped Gabriel over the shoulder, beaming. "You should consider a career in the medical field, Gabe, you did a damn fine job." Turning to Bacchus with a playful purr, he added, "And I'd happily practice CPR on you any time, dear."

She smiled back sweetly. "Oh, lovely. It's awfully hard to do it to yourself." She paused, touching her bottom lip thoughtfully as she studied the older Angelus. "And thank you for this."

Ardousius grinned sheepishly, suddenly just as shy as the younger man. "Aww, heck, couldn't let a pretty girl like you walk around with a split lip. 'Sides, it's my job."

"Which you do wonderfully."

"You'll give him a big head if you keep up like that," stage whispered Gabe.

Overhearing him, Ardousius rapped twice on his forehead with his knuckles and beamed. "Can't get much bigger, but it never hurts to pay a compliment."

"Never ever," Bacchus smiled. Reaching up, she brushed back a lock of chestnut hair. "Though... I suppose we're done here?" she asked tentatively.

"Well, without my sword," Gabriel said, waving his right arm in its general direction, "All I can do is throw another tear at you; which I'm not going to do," he added quickly. "Temporary truce sound good to you two?"

"Can it be permanent?" Ardousius complained, but nodded. "Just be careful, 'kay, Miss Bacchus? You get hurt again and I'll have to go back and heal you and that's a tiring process."

"Then I'm -very- thankful that you wasted your energy on me." Taking a short step toward him, she dropped a very quick kiss, feather- light, on his cheek. "Thank you."

Ardousius's chubby face went red all over and he chuckled, eyes on his feet. "Hey, anytime." His face slowly draining back to its original color, he turned to face Gabriel, looking even happier now that he had gotten his "reward". "Let's am-scray, shall we?" he suggested, and then whispered, "Maybe we can peek into some of the dorms later, eh?"

"Sure thing, Ardousius. Oh, Bacchus, um," he started hesitantly, "you probably don't want to hear this from me, but whoever it is that you love, tell him before it's too late."

Her violet eyes went wide, sudden shining pain contained within. Biting her lip, then, she shook her head. "It's too late already, hon," she whispered. "I already lost my chance." Offering him a smile and a quickly blown-off-her-hand kiss, the senshi of wine spun on her heel and padded off into the darkness, soon disappearing.

"Careful with your lip!" Ardousius called after her, waving also. He paused and sighed, shaking his head. "That's sick. Cute, young girls like her dragged into this. Hell, you're all too young for this. Or maybe I'm too old. Tell me something," He turned to face Gabriel, removing his goggles from his face and rubbing his eyes, "is every battle like that? Or do they get more...violent? I assume they do."

"Well," sighed Gabriel Knight, "I've never seen it happen, but Ariel told me that he once watched an Angelus who he'd just met die. Another senshi killed her; she was under some sort of mind control, or something. Ariel didn't know too much about it, really. But, yeah, it can get dangerous." He walked slowly over to where his sword was, picked it up, and brought it back over to where Ardousius was. Holding it up in the moonlight, he looked at it, the lilies etched in its blade faintly visible against the bright polished metal. He touched the edge of it to his finger, and watched as a tiny drop of red appeared as he took it away. "It's a real sword, Ardousius," he said, as he resheathed it, and he then placed his finger in his mouth.

"Take that out of your mouth," Ardousius sighed. Taking Gabriel's finger in his palm, he muttered "Mother Medicine" and, once more, the faint teal glow radiated from his fingers, closing the wound slowly. "I see your point, though."

"You didn't have to do that," Gabe said softly. "Thanks anyway, though. So, your first battle; at least you had someone with you."

"It's my job." he replied absently, shrugging his shoulders. "What kind of doctor would I be if I didn't aid the wounded, right?" After a moment, Ardousius grinned, a sort of hangdog smile. "And, hell, I know she would've kicked my butt if you weren't around, kid. Sword's kinda intimidating, helps me look tougher that I got a guy like you on my side.

"Right," Gabriel said. "We'll take a quick run around campus, and then call it a night. We've already had one fight; I don't think we need another." Gabriel jogged down the path, sandals clomping against pavement, with Ardousius following, trench coat flapping behind him. It had certainly been an interesting night, to say the least.

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