TITLE: Flying Giles 2/4
AUTHOR: Anne
RATING: R (parts 1-3) NC-17 (part 4)
PAIRING: Giles/Xander (slash m/m), Giles/Ethan (slash m/m)
FEEDBACK: yes please!
E-MAIL: bookmangal@yahoo.fr
SUMMARY: If Giles had feathers and wings…
DISTRIBUTION: VSS; m-m Slashaholics; USCL; Ucfic4BtVS; UCBTVSSMut; 3somes; The Wicked Ones. ODD; Giles Slash. Anyone else ask first please.
DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Productions, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the UPN Television Network. The story is written for the pleasure of the author and readers, and has no lucrative purpose whatsoever. Please do not reproduce this story anywhere without the author's consent.
SPOILERS: "Beauty and the beasts."
TIMELINE: Season 5.
WARNING: Graphic violence. Angst and horror. Non-consensual sex
THANKS: To Caz for her beta reading.
NOTE: < … > indicates thoughts.

When Giles opened his eyes, perceiving the reflection, which the mirror sent back to him, startled him. It was his image, yes, but modified. He was bald, had a pale green complexion, pointed ears, he had big brown wings in the back, claws in the ends of his fingers like a bird of prey and yellow lianas were rolled up around his wrists. His arms, his chest and abdomen, his sex and his legs were covered with small white and brown feathers. He blinked very astounded then lowered his eyes and inspected his anatomy. It was true! He was not human any more. He was horrified.

"Oh my God!" He moaned.

Giles noticed then that two guards supported him. He looked like them: they were bald too, green, had wings and feathers on their bodies. In addition, they had a helmet, wore a sparkling shell and had a two-edged sword hung along the thigh. A curtain of orange climbing plants moved on the side and an old winged man, with a grey beard entered the room. An infirmary he noted full of strange medical equipment. He recognized an operating table. The old winged man wore light, white clothes and had sandals.

Okas observed the new Elii, fascinated. "What do you think of your new appearance?"

"What did you do to me?" Giles growled.

"I didn't transform you into a Elii, the Spirit of the forest did it. I have just saved your life."

Giles frowned. "In to an Elii?"

"Elii is the name of our people."

"Why did this Spirit of the forest transform me into a Elii?"

"Because our Queen Olad is interested by you. She wants to get to know you, to learn all the things you know."

"I could have remained… the man I was for that!"

Okas shook his head. "No, the law stipulates that nobody "without wings" has the right to live in the town or in the Palace, except the slaves. It is strictly forbidden. That's the reason why the Spirit of the forest has transformed you into a Elii." He looked at one of the guards, which framed Giles at a loss and ordered him: "Release him now."

The guards stepped back from Giles and he almost fell down, pulled by the weight of his wings.

"You will quickly become used to the weight of your wings." Okas said to him with a reassuring smile. "It's time for us to rest. The guards are going to lead you up to the dormitory reserved for the soldiers."

The two soldiers escorted him to an immense cave. The vault has been cut, removed and he could see the orange and purple sky above him. The "room" was full of gigantic old trees. Their large leafs were green and yellow on the edges.

The guards placed him under one of the trees and went away. A moment later, several lianas came down from the top of the tree and to his surprise rolled around his arms and around his waist. They lifted him among the highest branches and he could see many winged men and winged women suspended in the air, like fruits. Once the lianas halted, he began to fall asleep. Once asleep two red lianas and not green as the others, crawled on his chest, slid inside the openings covered with feathers and planted their fangs into his heart.

*
* *

The two red lianas of the alio retracted. Giles then opened his eyes and noticed that the sun had risen. The dormitory of the soldiers was still plunged into half-darkness. The green lianas lowered him to the ground where a winged young woman waited for him.

"Did you sleep well?" She asked him.

He had slept soundly for the first time for years. "Yes."

Giles perceived that a little sticky green liquid stained the feathers of his chest and frowned. He pushed them aside and saw two crosses on his skin. They were openings.

"It's by these openings that the red lianas of the alio feed us, while we are sleeping." The Elii explained.

"What's a alio?"

She put her hand on the black trunk of the tree near of which he was standing and caressed its bark.

"It's a tree. The alio takes care of us. When we are asleep, its two red lianas sink into our heart. The first one sucks up our sap full with impurities and toxin whereas the second injects a sap rich in all the elements, which we need to live. The alio does this twice every day: at sunset, and in the morning, before dawn. In addition, when we are hurt, the sap of the alio regenerates us. The other lianas, the green, suspend us among the branches so that we can rest there. We fall asleep at sunset and wake up at dawn. The Elii are hybrid beings, part-men, part-bird and part-plants. However, some of us are awakened during the night to work. They rest in the daytime. My name is Onia. I'm the captain of the guards of the Royal Palace. I'm your commanding officer. What do I call you, soldier?"

Giles blinked. "Soldier?"

"Yes, you're a soldier. Doctor Okas didn't say it to you?"

"No, he didn't."

"Well, you're a soldier. What's your name?"

"My name is Giles.

"Very well, Giles. I'm going to be your instructor. I'm going to teach you to fly first, then I'll teach you the art of the fight."

She suddenly grabbed Giles by his arm and flew away. He beat his wings to follow her but his flight was chaotic. A moment later, they reached the top of the cliff, which dominated the Royal Palace built on the side of an extinct volcano. Clouds hid a part of it.

"First lesson!" Onia said just before she pushed Giles into space. Scared he screamed.

*
* *

Giles entered a small square room where the walls were covered with plants and with flowers. The centre was occupied by a gigantic and majestic alio, at feet of which was standing a handsome young Elii. Suddenly Okas pushed aside a curtain of greenery and called:

"Opox!"

Opox joined him. Some minutes passed by before Okas reappeared and called:

"Giles!"

They walked in narrow corridors cut in the flesh of the alio and penetrated into a big arched circular room. Near him, he perceived a tub, very big, in which a couple of mermaids swam.

"They are called Ledds." Okas said to him. "They live in the heart of seas. Onia captured a couple of them, three cycles ago and offered it to the Queen, so that she can enjoy herself watching them swimming. Follow me, Giles, the Queen wishes to speak to you."

Okas pushed aside a curtain of plants again and Giles was then able to see the Queen of the Elii. The old woman was lying on her side on a bed of flowery moss. He jumped, stunned. She was laying a big green egg, speckled with brown. Once the egg was laid, a winged woman took it, wiped it with linen and took it away.

"It is the Queen who has the responsibility to extend our people." Okas explained. "She chooses the males which will impregnate her. She chooses the most beautiful and the strongest; those who will give perfect new Elii. The queen is always fertile and can lay up to hundred eggs from sunrise to sunset."

A dreadful smell suddenly made Giles wrinkle his nose and localize its source. He saw in his right-hand side, an enormous carnivorous flower. He moved back frightened, when he saw that a pale green leg hung out of its mouth. Suddenly a spray of acid coming from a stem dissolved it. The flesh fell and the bare bone, was thrown away. Itjoined a heap of bones situated behind the plant. Giles perceived a skull among them. For some moments, Giles was submerged by horror.

"Oh God!" He gasped.

"It was Opox." Okas said to Giles his voice neutral. The thing was natural for him. "All the male breeders are killed having impregnated the Queen, and then eaten by this plant called zedas.

"Why?"

"Because otherwise, some minutes later, they would metamorphose into Grenn."

"What's a Grenn?"

Okas answered: "After he coupled with a female, male hormones activate a genetic alteration: the Elii is transformed into a Grenn. The Grenn is an extremely dangerous and wild creature, which drinks the blood of its victims and devours their flesh. The mind of the Elii is crushed and dominated by the animal instincts of the Grenn, among which one of them urges it to couple with all the females, which it meets, without distinction of kind. It kills them then, to be able to feed its offspring when they come out of their eggs. Because it's him who lays. Some cycles ago, several Elii males coupled with the females, which they loved, when it was forbidden. Only the queen must be impregnated. All of them became Grenns and killed many people. They coupled with other females and laid hundreds of eggs. Fortunately, we managed to kill them all and destroy their offspring. After this tragic episode, the Queen decided that all the males would live separated from the females and would be kept watch over and that her mate would be killed." The queen sat on his bed of flowery moss and called: "Giles!" Giles approached the old Elii woman, knelt down and respectfully lowered his eyes.

"Look at me!"

Giles raised his head and could read desire in Olad's eyes. He quivered immediately.

"You are a magnificent male!" The Queen said. "You would deserve to be one of my male breeders."

It had to be a compliment, and Giles said: "Thank you, Your Majesty. < Oh God! >

"As soon as I have some free time, you will tell me everything about you Giles and you will teach me all that you know. Onia told me that you are very talented with a two-edged sword. Show me what you're capable of Giles. Fight one of my slaves."

Onia slapped her hands and two slaves advanced. Giles glanced at them: they looked like "prehistoric men".

Onia caught him strongely by his arm and brought him near Giles who stood up. She stretched out to him her two-edged sword then and ordered: "Fight this soldier, without wings. And don't hold back on your blows!"

Giles did not take his two-edged sword. He did not want to hurt the slave. He was going to use his fists.

The man covered with long brown hairs raised his two-edged sword and rushed at Giles. He evaded the assault. When the slave returned towards him, he moved back again and shot him, a straight left then a left hook to his face. The non-winged man his lips bloody, grumbled with pain and staggered half groggy. Giles knocked him out with an uppercut to the chin. The prehistoric man collapsed on the floor.

"An interesting way of fighting." Olad commented to the queen.» You have defeated him, now kill him Giles!"

Giles looked at the Queen and said to her: "I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I can't. He's not my enemy."

Olad frowned. Kill him! That's an order!"

Giles shook the head. "No."

Olad trembled with anger. No one has ever dared to say "no" to her. It was an insult!

Onia squeezed her fists. "Obey the Queen, soldier!"

Giles repeated: "No."

"Guards! Olad yelled glaring at Giles. Two guards entered the room. "Guards bring Giles to a cell, he will undergo the "pain".

Using his rather recent Herculean force, Giles pushed the two guards who had seized him away and tried to run. But the lianas of the guards came to wrap around his legs and arms. Their sharp thorns sank into his flesh and released their poison. His vision blurred and he staggered. He managed to make another step then collapsed.

*

The two guards threw Giles in a cell narrow and dug deep in the rock and closed the door.

Giles regained consciousness at sunset and felt the first effects of the "pain" about which the Queen had spoken: horrible pains stabbed him almost everywhere and his limbs stiffened up. He wanted to sleep, but he suffered too much to be able to fall asleep. At dawn, Giles had the feeling that his body boiled.

Several minutes later, his fever increased and he began being delirious. Later, he hallucinated. He choked, when Okas received the order of the Queen to take him out of the cell and to look after him. Giles was almost dead when Okas placed him under an alio. When his sap was replaced, two guards brought him in front of Olad. The slave whom he had knocked out was on his knees, looking at the floor his face unmoved.

Onia entered the room and stretched out to him her two-edged sword. "The queen gave you an order, soldier! Kill this slave!"

Giles shook his head. "No."

"Then you are going to die!" Onia got back her two-edged sword and brandished it.

Giles stiffened.

"Not, not this way Onia!" The Queen said. "He has to suffer a lot before dying. Then, you will throw him in the derg!"

Onia nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. I know a very good way to make him suffer a lot."

She hit Giles on his head with the knob of the two-edged sword. Olad watched the two guards dragging him outside the room, annoyed. She would never learn who he was and what he knew.

*

When Giles regained consciousness, surprise gave way quickly and its place taken by fear: he rocked in space, pushed by squalls of wind. He washung by his feet on a branch of a tree placed over an abyss. He tried to beat his wings, to fly away, but they only moved a little. They were attached. His throat squeezed up. Something hideous was going to happen to him so that he could suffer a lot. He suddenly heard piercing cries and saw big black birds coming to him. They flew around him, such birds of prey, and then dived towards him squealing. Their claws ripped his skin; their sharp beaks pierced his flesh. He roared with pain and struggled furiously but it was useless. He howled in total pain when they began to eat him. He passed out.

Some minutes later, a metal sound frightened the big black birds, which, frightened, flew away losing some feathers. Two soldiers brought Giles back on the cliff. He was barely alive and his body was covered with bloody holes. The bones of his arms and parts of his ribs were visible. His skin and flesh disappeared there, eaten. They transported him up to the heart of the volcano, there where was situated the derg, a swamp where trees and plants were dying or already dead and in decomposition. They dropped him on the spongy ground. The carnivorous animals, which infested the place, rushed on him. They had begun to feast, when they were interrupted by the arrival of an Elii. His wings had been cut. He had a spear and with them, he managed to hurt and to chase the dangerous animals out.

The winged man lifted Giles in his arms and transported him up to the foot of the alio in which he lived. He had just untied Giles' wings when the green lianas of the tree lifted him up to the top then the red lianas sank into his chest to reach his heart. The altered sap was evacuated and fresh one began to run in his veins. Little by little, his body regenerated: his wounds disappeared and flesh reappeared on his bones. Some minutes later, the lianas put Giles down on the ground. He observed his anatomy stunned. He was intact. He remembered that the alio regenerated the damaged bodies of the Elii.

"How do you feel?" Suddenly asked the old Elii coming to him.

Giles looked at him. "Fine. Who are you?"

"My name is Orik. I am the permanent resident of this charming place. And you are?"

"Giles."

Orik frowned. "Giles is not a elii name."

"I am not a Elii, at least I was not Elii, before. I was a human being. Okas transformed me into a Elii."

Giles noticed that the wings of the old Elii had been cut to prevent him from flying. "Are you a prisoner, here?"

Orik shook his head. "Yes, for a very long time."

"What crime did you commit?"

"None. A long time ago, I was a male breeder. The queen and I fell in love. Once impregnated by me, she refused to kill me. She made them transport me here secretly, cut my wings so that I cannot run away, and tell anyone that she had been weak, once. And you, Giles, which crime did you commit to have been condemned to death, because if I had not saved you, the carnivorous animals, which infest the derg, would have eaten you completely. Then?"

"The queen wanted me to kill one of her slaves, and I said no. I refused to kill him."

Orik was very surprised. "You did that?"

"Yes I did."

The old Elii smiled then laughed. "Do you know that you are the first one to have said no to her? It doesn't surprise me that she condemned you to death Giles. You seriously offended her." Orik raised his eyes. The sun penetrated only a little into the derg, but he knew when sunset and dawn came. "The sun will set in about one hour. Leave this place and take refuge in the zone of the thick fogs, which extends along the coast, you will be safe there. No Elii goes there, it's too dangerous because of the fogs and because of the without wings. Several tribes of without wings live there. Explain to them what happened to you and they will welcome you among them. But do it before they try to kill you."

"Thank you, Orik."

"Fly away Giles, and fast!"

Giles flew away.

*

Giles passed through a thick patch of fog. Once under it, he could see small huts. Each of them possessed an enclosure where grazed strange animals. He came down. Suddenly there was a whistling: an arrow had just passed very near his left wing and he perceived a group of "prehistoric men" holding bows and arrows.

"I come as a friend!" He shouted to them.

He still came down. Another arrow came through his right wing. Unbalanced, he fell down and crashed heavily in the middle of an enclosure, frightening the animals, which almost trampled him. Some without wings males rushed on him, armed with spears and swords. He managed to stand but staggered and fell to his knees in the mud.

"I come as a friend!" He repeated.

Gâa women and children armed with forks and rocks joined the men and all of them made a circle around him, threatening.

"I come as a friend!" Giles repeated again. "I mean you no harm. Please, believe me."

"The Eliis are our enemies!" Suddenly said a boy, before launching his rock towards Giles' head.

Giles growled with pain and collapsed on his back. He suddenly noticed a young man with a white and smooth skin, with brown eyes and hair. "Oh God! Xander!"

Xander knelt down near him bewildered. "Giles?"

Giles nodded. "Yes. It's me."

"You are a Elii!"

"Excellent observation, Xander. Yes, I'm an Elii. I was transformed into Elii against my will."

"Giles, what happened?"

Giles sighed and told him the entire story. Xander then helped him to get up then hugged him tightly.

"Aww!"

Xander observed the wounded wing and saw that some thick and sticky green blood flowing from it.

"You're hurt."

Giles shook his head. "Oh! it's nothing. What are you doing in this village of without wings Xander?"

"Ekat, a hunter, now my friend, brought me to his village. The village of the Gâa tribe. He was worried that the Elii could kidnap me and make a slave of me."

Giles suddenly felt very weak and moaned: he needed to sleep, to regenerate his sap. He wobbled. Xander caught him up before he collapsed and lifted him in his arms.

"Then he's the friend about whom you spoke to us Xander?" An old woman asked.

Xander shook his head. "Yes, it's him, Dalh. He's hurt."

"The alio is going to care for him." She took Giles from Xander's arms and transported him to the feet of an immense alio. She put him down on the ground. Several green lianas came down towards Giles asleep and rolled around his shoulders and around his waist. They lifted him among the branches. When they halted two red lianas crawled on his chest and plunged in his heart using the openings.

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