mistletoe | ficlet:choices

Thanks to

chrislee and

darkstar . For the first round at

Title: Choices
Author: mistletoe54
Character: Angel
Words: 300+
Rating: PG

A/N: This is my first attempt at anything longer than a drabble and it barely gets out of that category. Little steps....

CHOICES

His life was made up of choices. Usually, he made the wrong one. The choice that defined him was not really his fault.

None of them was really his fault.

Liam’s father made him choose: settle down and follow my footsteps in a dull round of business and marriage, or go. He chose to leave. That seemed the right choice at the time. He chose to leave and join his drinking friends in another night of freedom, living life to the full.

His next choice wasn’t his fault either. If only Ned hadn’t passed out as they set off to steal the family silver he would never had followed that woman. He would have had his way with the serving wench and probably slept it off before going home; ever the prodigal, ever forgiven.

The final choice Liam made that night definitely wasn’t his fault. It was a misunderstanding.

All he wanted was to see the world. This backwater of Galway was stifling; denied his opportunity to live in extravagance thanks to grinding poverty, the chance to see the world seemed like his dream made flesh. In the arms of a beautiful woman was too good to be true. So it proved, when he, too fuddled with drink, failed to note the woman had said my world. That was the choice that damned him. It didn’t seem fair.

So the choices continued, never his fault of course, because now there was a demon in charge, which lacked any moral compass whatsoever. So fault never came into the question for 150 years. Angelus wasn’t to blame then. Or so he tried to tell himself 100 years later. It was Darla’s fault.

After that it was always Angel’s fault.

Now, he had another choice to make. He’d already taken the first step by following Whistler in the hope that this time he would make the right choice and there would be no need for blame. He would be forgiven; he would be free of the torment. This slayer would be his redemption. Now, if he could only find a way to talk to her without sounding like a blithering idiot she would see him for what he truly was.

This was the final choice and it was good. It had to be.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

oh, nice! lovely. i've long pondered on Angel's pov on the critical changes he went through. it's totally believable, to me, that he'd deal with events in this way.

and it's great to think about how he approached that first meeting, knowing what we know about how much he depended on her. nice job!

Too kind! Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing and Angel always seemed to have 20/20 vision in a rear view mirror to me. Just like a human really. And he was always so optimistic that this one would be the critical choice - and then the next one until he was caught in a vortex until the end. Guilty might have been a better title.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

ficlet:choices

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