Current mood:

grumpy

ROTM 1.45.1 - Trinket
1.45.1 - You just found a ________! Now what?


Like most mystical artifacts, it had one of those fancy storybook names, The Gem of Amara.

It was, well, a big fat gaudy-looking ring (maybe not as bad as a Super Bowl ring, but still) and unless you actually knew what it was, it'd be pretty unimpressive. Like I said, though, it was one of those mystical artifacts, and how it looked wasn't as interesting as what it could do. The Gem of Amara could shield a vampire from the damage of the sun, letting him or her walk around freely during the day.

Imagine it-- someone with that kind of strength and speed and abilities with their greatest weakness countered. A vampire that could walk in the sun would be ten times the threat of any ordinary one at night.

Spike had found it, Buffy had gotten it away from him, and sent it to me, believing that if any vampire in the world should have that kind of power, it would be me. I suppose my first reaction should be to be flattered. I might be a vampire fighting for the good side (and at the time, the only one), but I very much didn't think of myself as being all that virtuous. But apparently she did, and that's why it ended up in my hands.

So of course, I had to try it out-- for a bit. Sure, it ended up getting me tortured and beaten and I actually had to deal with Spike again, but all in all, getting to walk in the daylight along with the rest of the world was pretty amazing.

So of course, I had to destroy it. I put it on the edge of the roof and smashed it with a brick.

Like I told Doyle, the night was where I belonged-- not because I wasn't good enough to walk in the sun, but because the people who needed me most weren't there. The human world had its own protectors during the day, like the police and the government and even the Slayer. But everyone below, everyone in the shadows but still innocent and helpless, they didn't have anyone but me. And The Gem of Amara was too good, enough to tempt me into forgetting them.

They needed me, and I needed to help them.

Win some, lose some.


Angel
'Angel' the series
Word Count: 392