Date written: Sat 19 May 2007
Author: Starway Man
Emails: theop at kew dot hotkey dot net dot au
Feedback: As they say, it's the coin of the realm. So please tell me what you thought of it.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Nodakskip, Francis Eugene and Greywizard for beta'ing this fanfic.
Category: AU, Action, Angst, Suspense, Tragedy
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon, David Greenwalt and all the other entities associated with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Diana Dormer is the name of Faith's first Watcher according to the BtVS novel "Go Ask Malice" by Robert Joseph Levy, and I have used some stuff here mentioned in that book.
Rating: R
Warnings: There is some violence and character death in this one
Main characters: Cordelia, ensemble
Author Notes: This one was originally part of a much larger fanfic, before I realized it was TOO big and I had to do some serious editing. So I isolated one particular segment which was almost a complete story in and of itself, modified it a tad and turned it into this stand-alone tale which I hope you'll enjoy.
Author Notes 2: It always struck me as rather odd how during the BtVS episode "The Wish" Cordelia blamed Buffy for all her troubles, what with the way Anya was constantly fishing for revenge against Xander then. So I wondered, what if Little Miss Vengeance had gotten what she wanted that day? Not necessarily killing the guy off or making sure he was never born, but something to inflict maximum pain and suffering for the amusement of the Lower Beings.
Author Notes 3: "word" indicates speech, ( word ) indicates thoughts.
Summary: What if Cordelia had been thinking about Xander when she made her Wish to Anya?
Title: Never Wish Upon A Hellmouth
Sunnydale High Quad, Sunnydale
December 1st, 1998
Cordelia Chase was done feeling sorry for herself this morning, after last night's strained conversation with Buffy Summers outside the Bronze. The stitches in her side ached, a souvenir from catching her ex-boyfriend Xander Harris cheating on her and getting gutted by that rebar. Her heart ached as well from her parents' indifference to her pain.
But as far as Cordy was concerned, the final straw had been getting jeered at by her fellow cheerleaders after ending up in a dumpster the previous evening. ( I just need to focus on the positives. Namely, making new friends and moving on from being such a complete laughing stock this way. )
"Cordelia? Are you okay?" The new girl, Anya something, suddenly registered in Miss Chase's world.
They walked through the colonnade as Cordelia said harshly, "I'm fine. But I've been wondering lately, Anya, why me? Why do I always end up being the one to get bitten by snakes, or get impaled, or fall for incredible losers? Why, exactly, do these horrible things keep happening to me? I'd really like to know. Because I'M REALLY GETTING SICK OF IT!"
Anyanka took off her pendant, as they both stopped. "Here. I think you need this more than I do right now. It's sort of a good luck charm." The undercover vengeance demon wasn't too worried about losing the source of her powers under these circumstances.
Cordelia lifted her hair away from her neck and let 'Anya' put it on. "Thanks, I could use some good luck. Especially in the boyfriend department!"
"Yeah, well, men suck, it's a fact of life. I mean, don't you just wish-"
"You wanna know what I wish? Right now, I wish that I'd never met Xander Harris!" Cordelia cried.
Anyanka's sympathetic look became a pleased but twisted grin, as her human features transformed into her true horrible demonic face. ( Oooh, I love it when they give me so much room to be creative! )
The pendant hanging around Cordelia's neck started to shine with a green glow, one that quickly grew in intensity. "Done!" Anyanka hissed triumphantly, as a blinding white light engulfed Miss Chase.
And with that, almost everything that had been, simply was not any longer.
Sunnydale High Quad, Wishworld Sunnydale
A moment later
Cordelia blinked. Then she blinked again, harder. Anya was gone, and the female teen could no longer see Buffy, Willow and Xander sitting at the bench where they'd been a moment before. "Anya?" Cordelia said, looking around. "Where the heck did she go?"
Then the Chase girl saw how there seemed to be far less students around than there had been a moment ago. Not to mention there was garbage and palm leaves strewn all around the quad. The place looked a lot messier than she was used to. "What's going on here?"
At that point, the brunette girl noticed that her side didn't hurt at all. Examining herself, the beauty queen saw no trace of stitches or an entry wound. Slowly, she began figuring it out. "'I wish that I'd never met Xander Harris'. Anya actually did that? Cool! She was like...a good fairy. A scary, veiny...good fairy."
With a smile on her face Cordelia headed back inside the school building, and again saw far fewer students than she'd been expecting. Confused, when she finally ran into her former friends the young woman was briefly stunned by the dark and drab clothes they had on. What these girls were wearing made her own turquoise dress stand out like a beacon at night.
"Cordelia, where you have been? Ted Chervin just totally went for third with Ginger in front of everybody, and you weren't there to see it!" Harmony almost whined.
( Why's she acting like we're best friends again? Oh, wait, of course! No Xander, which means I'm still the most popular girl in school. Awesome! ) Cordelia relaxed and asked, "Harmony, what's goin' on? I mean, why are you guys dressed like that?"
"Like what?" the redhead named Aphrodesia asked, looking at herself fearfully.
"Uh, Cordy, why are you wearing that come-bite-me outfit?" her friend Aura asked somewhat nervously.
( Come-bite-me...what? ) Miss Chase didn't get it. But just then the bell rang, and all further discussion had to be put on hold as the popular girls filed into the classroom.
By the time lunchtime break arrived, Cordelia was even more confused than she'd been before. There had been no sign of Xander as expected, but there had also been no sign of Giles, Willow, Oz, Buffy or even the other Slayer named Faith. Classes had been incredibly subdued; even all the teachers seemed morose and worried about something. Not to mention the library was securely locked up, and from the all the dust on the doorhandles, it was obvious no one had entered the place in months.
Her wish notwithstanding, it was like everything had been turned into an upside-down bizarro version of itself.
The afternoon didn't get any better as far as Cordelia was concerned. Computer Science was cancelled because the teacher wasn't there, English was boring, Spanish was incomprehensible, and History just made her zone out completely. As if she cared right now what the ugly and unfashionable did back during the Revolutionary War! Something Hellmouth-y was obviously going on, and all of her usual go-to people were missing in action here.
Finally during the last class of the day, the teacher said hurriedly, "Alright. Now, don't forget, tomorrow we have our, uh, monthly memorial, so, uh, there's no class." Then he rushed out of there when the bell rang, and most of the students stampeded after him.
Last one out of the classroom, Cordy called out to her newly reclaimed friends, "Hey! What's the rush?"
The popular clique reluctantly stopped and Harmony replied hastily, "Oh, well, you know, my mom hates it whenever I'm late. Besides, curfew's in an hour."
"Curfew?" Cordy didn't understand. ( Since when does Sunnydale have a curfew? )
"Yeah, uh, I'll see you all tomorrow at the memorial. G'bye!" Miss Kendall quickly left, and the rest of the Cordettes did the same.
Cordelia made her way to the parking lot where she'd left her car this morning. But the entire place was barren of automobiles, and full of leaves instead. "What the-? Who stole my convertible?" Fuming, the cheerleader started to make her way home on foot.
Unfortunately the sun went down long before Cordelia made it even halfway there. She paused on Main Street, and beheld a sight that filled her with horror. Buildings that yesterday had been the pride of Sunnydale were now dirty and semi-abandoned, and some of them were starting to become nothing more than ruins. The poorly lit street was full of garbage as well, which overflowed from the various dumpsters. What few cars were visible were wrecks beyond salvage.
"What the hell is going on here?" she muttered to herself, starting to hear screams and sirens in the distance.
"The same old wonderful everyday hell, doll face," an amused male voice said from behind her.
Cordelia whirled around and instantly screamed like an actress in a Hollywood B movie. Because standing in front of her was someone straight out of her worst nightmares: the leather-clad vampire that had once been Jesse McNally, Xander and Willow's best friend.
"Now what's a nice girl like you doin' here, Cordelia?" Vamp Jesse asked, an evil grin visible on his game face as he advanced forward. "'Cause I wasn't ever expecting to find you out alone at night like this, sweetheart."
"No, no, this isn't happening. You can't be here, you're dust! Xander staked you in the Bronze nearly two years ago!" Cordelia stammered, backing away as fast as she could.
Vamp Jesse stopped, obviously confused about something. "Who's Xander?"
Cordelia didn't bother to reply, she just turned around and ran for her life. But she didn't get far before she ran into a Goth-looking version of Willow Rosenberg. The redhead appeared far too pale, plus she was wearing black leather and red lipstick like it was going out of style or something. But still, at the moment Miss Chase didn't care about that, or the fact that this was the girl she had caught fooling around with her former boyfriend.
"Willow! Come on, we have to get out of here, we need to find Buffy or Faith!" Cordelia shouted, attempting to drag her companion along.
Willow didn't move an inch. "You want to find Faith the Slayer?"
"No, Faith the nun! Who do you think I meant?" Miss Chase screamed.
Willow quickly went into vamp face, making Cordelia scream again in shock, as Vamp Jesse finally caught up.
"Now, honey, that wasn't very polite," he hissed at Cordelia.
Eyes huge the human girl wasted no time on words, again attempting to run for it. But this time Vamp Jesse leaped over the smashed car in front of him and jumped down behind her, grabbing the female teen by the neck and throwing Cordelia down the street. She eventually rolled to a stop, unconscious.
Vamp Willow sighed, "That was no fun. She didn't even hardly put up a fight."
Vamp Jesse smirked, "Hey, let's look on the bright side. We've both been waiting years for this..." But then suddenly a van came screeching around the corner, stopping close to where Cordy lay sprawled out. "Aw, nuts. It's the white hats!"
In the driver's seat, Daniel 'Oz' Osborne trained a crossbow at both vampires, as the van opened up and an elderly woman jumped out with a large cross to ward off the undead. Despite themselves, both the male and female vamps backed away as Larry Blaisdell and Amy Madison quickly grabbed the unconscious Cordelia.
"Hey, Oz, honey? Don't you wanna come over here and have a taste of this?" Vamp Willow cupped her leather-clad breasts, thrusting out her chest and leering at him.
Oz made no reply, but his eyes were full of pain as he started up the van and got everyone out of there. Both vampires watched the humans depart before Vamp Jesse said, "We'd best report in. His Honor the Mayor will wanna know about this."
"Do we have to? I can think of more pleasant ways to pass the time," Vamp Willow purred.
"It's not that I don't appreciate your talents, Will, but don't you remember what he and that crazy bitch did to the last vamp who held out on him like that?" the male bloodsucker pointed out.
Vamp Willow pouted, as the two undead things kissed passionately before heading for home.
City Hall, Wishworld Sunnydale
Not long afterwards
Mayor William Pratt, a.k.a. William the Bloody a.k.a. Spike, laughed to himself as he strode through the dark domain that had once belonged to Richard Wilkins. It felt like everything was coming up roses for him these days. He was in charge of the whole town by now – nobody was safe from him anymore, not even during the daylight hours.
Spike gave thanks to whatever dark gods were granting him their favour, as in his mind coming to Sunnydale was the best decision he'd ever made. Not only had he finally cured Drusilla of what that Prague mob had done to her, she'd become stronger than ever after Angelus had ended up ashes in that abandoned church last year. And after that little episode with the Judge, the town had finally been ripe for the taking.
Of course, that had meant killing the ponce who had been running this burg for the last hundred years in order to become a pure demon, but as far as Spike was concerned, that was just an added bonus.
"Spike? Spike!" Drusilla's distressed voice came out of their bedroom. "Come quickly, dear heart!"
William made tracks towards his loved one at once. "Darling, what is it?"
"Everything's changed," Drusilla moaned, her psychic antennae vibrating as she lay on her bed. "It's been this way for years, but it didn't used to be, it used to be so utterly 'orrible for us. And someone's come from that other place – the one who went 'n' changed everything. Ahhhhh!" Dru's scream echoed throughout City Hall.
"Who is this you're talkin' about, pet?" Spike muttered, frowning. He knew better than to try to interpret what his sire was babbling about, not without a lot more information.
"The Queen of Cups," the madwoman hissed. Then she howled, "The light! The light! Spike, the nasty white light, it's all around me!"
"There, there, ducks," Spike said comfortingly to his creator, patting her cold undead hand. "How could it be? Every window's been bricked up solid around 'ere. Just relax, everything's fine-"
"Actually, I'm not so sure."
Spike looked around at the new arrivals. A holdover from the days of the Annoying One, Vamp Willow and Vamp Jesse were hardly what he'd call the loyal type. Still, after Dalton had been dusted, they were the only lieutenants he had left with half a brain, and with that damned human resistance movement still in town, William the Bloody knew that he couldn't afford to just stake them out of hand.
At least not yet.
"Ran into my old crush a few minutes ago," Vamp Jesse continued. "Queen C started babbling something about the Slayer, too. Didn't know they'd had anything to do with one another till just now."
Drusilla moaned again, writhing in her bed. "Kill her. Cut her out. Drain her dry!"
Spike glanced at her, and then something clicked in his brain. ( Queen C. Queen of Cups? Eh, better safe than sorry. ) "Like Dru said. Find this girl and kill her," the bleached-hair vampire said simply.
Vamp Jesse was on board with that completely, and quickly exited the bedroom. But Vamp Willow just locked eyes with Spike, sending him an unspoken message.
"Forget it," Spike said as a response. His British accent thickening, William added, "Now get outta here 'fore I stake you meself!"
Vamp Willow merely grinned at him and departed after her undead lover, leaving Spike cursing himself for ever letting the redheaded woman-beast seduce him that one time. It wasn't that the Willow vamp had a snowball's chance in hell of ever supplanting Drusilla in his unbeating heart, of course, it was just bloody annoying being constantly reminded of the weakness of the flesh that way.
Unknown location, Wishworld Sunnydale
December 2nd, 1998
It was shortly after midnight when Cordelia Chase came out of her pained sleep. "I see you're finally awake," she heard a female voice with a foreign accent say.
Groaning, Cordelia got up from the makeshift bed and stared at the grey-haired woman who'd spoken. "Where am I?"
"Somewhere safe. At least for now," the British Watcher replied. "My name is Diana Dormer, and my group and I found you on the street about to become a meal for the undead. Now, why on earth were you wearing that dress in public? I thought everyone knew that vampires are attracted to bright colours."
( She knows about that stuff? Well, good, no need to pussyfoot around then. ) "Ms. Dormer, I – no, wait, first thing's first. My name's Cordelia Chase, and thanks for saving my life. But hey, ever since this morning everything's become completely crazy! Nothing's right, I mean the clothes alone...look, is there any chance you know where Buffy and Faith are? We really need the Slayers, like pronto!"
Diana frowned. "Faith is out on patrol, doing whatever she can to prevent human slaughter. But Buffy...are you referring to Buffy Summers? And how the devil did you know that Faith was the Slayer?"
"Okay, one: duh about Buffy! And two, I've known who Faith is ever since that Kisses-toast vampire chased her ass into town a couple of weeks after senior year started," Cordelia said.
"What? But we've been here for...wait, kisses toast. Do you mean Kakistos, perchance?" Diana suddenly looked nervous.
"Yeah, whatever the freak's name really was, Faith and Buffy dusted him nearly two months ago. Now look-" Cordelia looked impatient.
"Faith and BUFFY?" Diana interrupted, looking confused. "Miss Chase...Buffy Summers is dead. She's been dead for nearly 18 months now, according to the Watcher diaries. The vampire known as the Master killed her. I'm afraid you're very much mistaken about her and Faith ever working together."
Cordelia's face went white at that particular revelation, the latest in a long line of shocks today. Because the blonde Slayer had often saved the world, and despite their bad history together, this just wasn't right.
( Buffy's really dead? What, have I been dreaming or something for the last year and a half? ) the young woman asked herself.
At that moment, Amy and Oz entered the room. "Larry's watching our perimeter," the werewolf reported. "I'll go relieve him soon."
"Good, good," Diana said, still distracted with Cordelia.
"Hey, Watcher lady, got anything to eat around here?" Amy asked as she checked out the makeshift kitchen.
"You're a Watcher? Uh, what happened to Giles?" Cordelia asked in confusion. She then noticed Diana wince, even though the schoolgirl didn't know why.
( Focus. All that's irrelevant now, ) Diana thought sadly. Professor Dormer had known Rupert's father in her youth, and under different circumstances Giles could have easily been her son, instead of the woman destiny had chosen for that honor.
Oz turned around and stared at Cordelia. "Mr. Giles is dead. I thought you knew that," he said slowly. "That demon Eyghon killed him ages ago. You okay, Cordelia? That bump on the head looks pretty nasty."
( Buffy and Giles are both six feet under? What's going on here? ) Cordelia thought to herself, quickly losing her temper.
"Oh, that's it. Enough, people! I am confused and aching and I have no idea what's going on! People who should be alive aren't, and one particular vampire who should be dust, isn't! Let's start at the beginning. Namely, how everything went nuts this morning when the new girl at school showed me her demon-y face!" Miss Chase ranted.
"New girl with a demon-y face?" the female Watcher said, her interest sparked by the brunette's description of her classmate.
"Yeah," Cordelia said with a deep breath. "Okay. I was majorly upset after going to the Bronze last night, and the conversation I had with Buffy. I mean, she actually wanted to talk about Xander cheating on me with Willow! Anyway, this morning? The new girl Anya – who has like great taste in shoes and accessories – she loaned me this amulet." Cordy indicated the green pendant she was wearing, which was completely non-functional here and now. She then finally noticed everyone staring at her. "What? Do I have lipstick on my teeth or something?"
"Cordelia, no offense, but you're obviously nuts," Amy said, shaking her head. "I mean, the Bronze has been closed for nearly six months now. Buffy's dead, Willow's been a vampire for ages, and who the hell is this Xander guy you're talking about?"
"Xander Harris. My ex-boyfriend? The same guy who got you to cast a love spell for him on Valentine's Day, after he caught you using magic to get a passing grade?" Cordy demanded, having forgotten details about her Wish for the moment.
Amy froze at hearing that. "How did you..." Then she shut herself up, figuring she didn't want to know.
"Cordelia? I've never heard of this Xander Harris guy either. Who is he exactly?" Oz asked calmly.
"Oz, not you too? He's Willow's best friend! The guy she had a crush on for years before you entered the scene. Even though that didn't stop her from locking lips with him behind my back that way," Cordelia told him with more than a little anger. Ignoring both his expression and Diana, the young woman looked around to Miss Madison. "So, you've really never heard of him? Yeah, I can tell you haven't...but how's that possible? Amy, Xander's been here in Sunnydale ever since we were all in kindergarten together, that first day he met Willow when she broke the damn yellow crayon!"
Amy suddenly had a faraway look on her face, as if she was trying to remember something. Then she snapped her head back towards Cordy. "Wait, Cordelia, are you talking about Alexander Harris?"
"Yes!" Cordelia looked ecstatic. "So you do know him, and this is all just a bad dream! Right?"
"Cordelia, listen to me," the brunette witch said softly. "The only reason I just now remembered the name is because you don't easily forget someone who shoots his own father, and then leaves town with his mother to start a new life elsewhere."
"What?" everyone said with various levels of disbelief.
"I was only five years old at the time, but I remember 'cause it was in all the papers for a while and Willow was a friend back then. Basically, a little kid named Alexander Harris killed his abusive dad with one of his uncle's pistols. Later, he and his mom – Jessica, or Josephine or something – they hightailed it out of Sunnydale after the DA's office decided not to pursue a case against someone so young. But Cordelia, what I don't get is why you think he grew up here. I mean, as far as I know, you never even met the guy; you weren't in class the one day he ever attended kindergarten. So what gives?" Amy finished up.
"This is impossible," Cordelia declared again, her face appearing way too pale. "Amy, I'm telling you, Xander never killed his father and he never left Sunnydale! Hell, Mr. Harris initially thought I was a hooker last year, the one time I insisted on meeting my boyfriend's parents! I..."
A look of sheer horror suddenly appeared on the socialite's face, as the morning's memory surfaced and realization finally dawned. "Oh dear God, no. This morning I, I, I wished that I had never met Xander..."
Diana abruptly leaned forward and yanked Cordelia's amulet off. "Ow! Hey, watch it!" Cordy snapped automatically.
Diana ignored her. "Amy. Get my mini-encyclopaedia on demonic icons and artefacts, will you? Now, Miss Chase," Diana said icily. "Let me see if I've got this straight. You made a wish to a demon in disguise. And it unexpectedly came true, changing the world as you knew it in the process?"
"Yeah, I, I guess," Cordelia said nervously. She had finally figured out how this was all her fault.
"Willow's still alive where you come from?" Oz suddenly demanded, his eyes going black.
"Oz! Calm down!" Amy yelled in sudden anxiety, as she handed the book to Diana who started to leaf through it. "Don't make me have to fry your ass if you lose control of your inner wolf!"
Daniel made a visible effort to relax, but even though his eyes went back to their normal colour, Cordelia still didn't feel safe – not with the way he was staring at her.
( I don't wanna be here. I wanna be at home in my bed. I wanna be reading the latest issue of Cosmo. Hell, I'd rather be doing homework than watch these people glare at me like this! )
"Found it," Diana said, looking at a page that contained a diagram of the green pendant. "It's the symbol of Anyanka."
"Who?" all the others wanted to know.
"Anyanka. Otherwise known as the patron saint of scorned women. She grants wishes, apparently." Diana then quickly found another book called "Bristow's Demon Index", and opened it to the correct page, then showed it to Cordelia.
"Is that who you saw this morning?" the Watcher asked.
"Y-yeah," Cordelia said nervously, acutely aware of all the hostility in the room as she stared at the woodcut drawing. "The face, she's definitely the one alright."
"Meet Anyanka, vengeance demon extraordinaire. One of the minions of D'hoffryn, who's been running around just this side of forever, recruiting human women to become his demonic servants. Hmm, she's very powerful, capable of bending space and time to her will with her power center." Diana slammed the book shut, then focused her attention on the newest addition to their little group. "All right, young lady, start talking."
"About what?"
"I want to hear all about your world," the Council operative replied impatiently. "Start at the beginning, and don't leave anything out. I need to find out exactly what your Wish accomplished, when you removed this Alexander Harris person from Sunnydale."
"Hey, I didn't..." Cordelia gave up again on seeing all their looks. "Okay, fine. Let's see. Buffy came to Sunnydale back around January 1997, I guess that's when all the freakiness started. Uh, she stopped the Harvest two nights later when she killed some vessel guy who was working for that vamp called the Master. Everyone thought it was just some gang on PCP or something; so did I at first, until Xander explained it all to me after we started dating. And...Xander killed Jesse then, too, at the Bronze, after he was vamped."
"So then, that explains why the vampire you thought should be dust still exists here. And the rest of it sounds just like what I've read in Rupert's diaries. All right, let's skip to the part where Buffy was killed in our reality, but not in yours," Diana prodded.
"Well, that's not – I mean, she killed the Master, who killed her first for like sixty seconds, but then she came back to life after Xander gave her CPR. So that's why there are two Slayers now," Cordelia said very self-consciously.
"Not here there aren't," the British woman shook her head in narrow-eyed disagreement. "After Buffy died that night? The vampire Angelus, or Angel as he called himself, he killed the Master and saved the world then. The girl named Kendra was called with Slayer Summers's death, and then my Slayer Faith was activated after Kendra's passing in battle against the Judge." Diana's tone was now arctic cold.
"But it didn't happen that way! I mean, Xander came up with a plan on how to deal with that thing. Uh, y'know, by using a rocket launcher against the big blue smurf! Me, Xander, Oz and Willow – we all went and stole one from the local Army base, and then Buffy blew up the Judge with it at the mall-"
"Okay, I've heard enough. 'Cause I can tell by now that you really screwed us over but good, you stupid airhead!!" Amy snarled at Cordelia, her eyes going just as black as Oz's had done. "It's patently obvious that Alexander Harris was the vital ingredient needed to prevent things from going to hell over the last two years, but you wished him away – just because you had issues about him cheating on you? Everything's that happened in this town ever since the Harvest, it's all your fault! God damn it, I oughta kill you myself for what you've done!!"
"Amy, enough!" Diana shouted as Cordy recoiled in fear. "Continue, Cordelia. What else can you tell us?"
"Uh, well, Kendra was killed six months ago by that loony vamp, Drusilla. About when that big ugly stone demon, a cat of la or whatever its name was, was found," Miss Chase said nervously. Then she saw their faces. "What?"
"Acathla was never a major problem here, I saw to that personally. But Drusilla and her paramour Spike? They run Sunnydale now, almost in its entirety. I take it that's not the case in your world?" Diana asked.
"No," Cordelia confessed. "Those two split town at the end of junior year. Spike briefly came back less than a week ago, but he was all alone and no one's seen him since."
"Would that we were so lucky," Diana muttered. Then she opened her book again and scanned the entry on Anyanka for more information. ( Let me see... )
"All right, all of you listen. It says here, 'in order to defeat Anyanka, one must destroy her power center. Without it, all her Wishes will be reversed'. So then, once we get our hands on it and eliminate it...this entire timeline will hopefully be erased from existence. The world that you remember, Cordelia, should be restored intact."
( Willow. ) "So what's this power center look like?" Oz seemed excited now.
"It doesn't say," Diana frowned at the book. "Well, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it, we can't afford to waste any more time on this. We'll have to summon that demon and force her to tell us what we need to know."
"We'll need Faith, then," Amy noted.
"Go get her, but be very careful. Oz, you relieve Larry on perimeter watch and tell him to go with Amy. Cordelia, you'll assist me in preparing the summoning spell," the Watcher barked out orders.
"But I don't know anythi-" Cordy started to say.
"Don't argue with me, girl, I don't want to hear it. This is your mess, now you'll help us clean it up. Is that clear?" Diana demanded with her usual cold tone.
"Crystal," Cordelia said sulkily.
Perimeter watch post, Wishworld Sunnydale
A short while later
Faith's Watcher had severely underestimated the annoying complaints factor though, and soon ordered the cheerleader to get out of her sight; the girl wasn't helping with the spell preparations at all. So with nowhere else to go, Cordy sought out Oz. "Hey."
The werewolf barely glanced at her. "What do you want?"
Suddenly very angry and annoyed Cordelia demanded, "Look, pal, could I at least have some common courtesy here? Geez, Mr. Attitude!"
"You're responsible for killing Willow, even if Jesse was the one who bit her. How do you expect me to react?" Oz didn't even look at his female companion.
"But I didn't wish for that!" Cordelia said hotly. "You want to blame somebody for what happened to her, blame Anya. And there's also the fact that Willow cheated on you in my world, the same way Xander cheated on me. So don't try to make her out as some kind of martyr, okay? Right now as far as I'm concerned, she's anything but that."
Oz drew on his great reserves of emotional detachment not to lash out with his fangs and claws at this...person. "So then, tell me everything you know about this guy."
Cordelia obliged. Oz could tell her side of the story was more than a little biased, but he was able to discern a few facts from the venomous diatribe.
"Okay, then, sounds like you started dating Harris even though you knew it was a bad idea right from the start," he pointed out. "Changed his wardrobe, made him behave around your friends, put a leash around his neck almost. Sounds to me like you were trying to make your boyfriend into somebody he wasn't. Like your own version of Angel or whatever."
Cordy refused to even think that Oz might be right, and that she might have unconsciously driven Xander away into the arms of another woman. "Oh, you are SO wrong about that mister! And like I'd ever be interested in a vampire. That's Buffy's thing, not mine!"
"You – that is, the other you, the Cordelia I know – she was plenty interested after Buffy died. That meant dumping Devon in public without a second thought, though. Guy got so depressed he went into drugs and booze, big time. Haven't seen him ever since he went into rehab and the band broke up," Oz's voice sounded flat, emotionless and almost robotic.
"That wasn't me!" Cordelia insisted heatedly. "I have no memory of any of that."
"Yeah. I believe you," Oz nodded. "Doesn't change anything though, as far as I'm concerned."
( My God, bitter much? ) Cordy thought to herself in distaste. "It was probably just a stupid phase I was going through, anyway. A really bad decision on my part."
"Like making that Wish."
"All right, FINE! I screwed up on that, okay, Oz? But I was hurting and I was angry and I was feeling betrayed by the one guy I'd ever truly fallen in love with! I gave up everything for Xander, and how did he repay me for it? By fooling around with your girlfriend behind both our backs!" Cordelia said furiously.
Oz just stared at her. "And yet, as much as it must kill you to admit it...things were better when he was around, right?"
Giving up, Cordelia turned around and stalked off back to the Slayage HQ, wanting with all her might to simply go home. She tried clicking her heels three times, but of course that didn't work. ( Yeah, right, as if my life is a movie or a TV show! )
Soon Faith, Larry and Amy arrived back at Watcher Central, just after Vamp Willow and Vamp Jesse discovered where Cordelia had been staying. Not far away though, Oz was dead; Vamp Willow had joyfully plunged a silver knife into his heart while he was distracted thinking about the universe this new Cordelia had come from – the one where the woman he loved was still alive.
Diana was frantically looking for a weapon as Amy became mortally wounded during the battle. The British woman heard the Chase girl's scream and shouted, "Cordelia, go! Run!" The Watcher knew the civilian would be useless in this fight, and she would only have a brief window of opportunity to get away.
Scared out of her wits, without hesitation Cordelia ran out the door towards Oz's van. She started praying, ( Dear Lord, if you'll just let me get out of Bizarro World alive and intact, I promise I'll turn over a new leaf. Heck, I'll even try things again with Xander if that's what it'll take! )
Faith finally staked Vamp Willow in the ensuing battle, but suffered a lethal case of broken neck when Vamp Jesse managed to get behind her. Larry raised an axe, and his one-time friend quickly became a head shorter and a lot dustier in a terrible battle of attrition.
The football player rushed over to the dying witch. "Ms. Dormer, we have to do something! Help me get Amy to a doctor-"
"No. Too late," Amy croaked. "I can feel it. We have to...change the world. Undo...the Wish. Only hope..."
Diana looked torn, but she knew Amy was right. She grabbed a couple of herbs and powders, dumped them into the waiting goblet of liquid and started chanting, "Anyanka, I beseech thee. In the name of all women scorned, come before me."
Nothing happened. Seeing his girlfriend get worse, Larry shouted, "We're losing her, damn it!"
Diana added some more herbs to the mix, and repeated the incantation. Still nothing.
The young man lost all patience and grabbed the goblet. "Okay, you demon bitch, show your ugly face in the name of all the cheated women out there!" he shouted angrily.
"Do you have any idea what I do to a man who uses that spell to try to summon me?" a demon-y voice said from directly behind him.
Larry never had a chance to even turn around, as the vengeance demon grabbed him by the neck and twisted sharply with inhuman strength. The male teenager fell to the floor, his soul departing to meet its maker almost at the same moment Amy wheezed out her last breath. Anyanka then looked around the room, taking in the carnage and vampire dust with interest.
She smirked, "I had no idea things would end up so exciting like this! Brave new world. Wherever you are right now, Cordelia Chase, I hope you like it."
"As a matter of fact, she hates it with every fiber of her being. So much for making things better, which I believe is what your kind purports to do?"
Anyanka turned around, and stared at Diana. "Not exactly. And since you're not a scorned woman, why are we having this conversation?"
"Because you're going to change things back to the way they should be," the female Watcher stated simply, pointing her gun at the demon.
Anyanka laughed at her in genuine amusement. "I don't think so! This is the real world now. And it shall remain forever so."
"I'd like to test that theory. Grab her amulet!" a strange voice ordered, interrupting their argument.
The demoness whirled around in surprise, only to be struck by a barrage of electricity from the warlock known as Rack. The guy was a scumbag magic dealer, granted, but he had felt the massive reality shift during the previous morning and knew that his business profits had greatly suffered thanks to Anyanka's handiwork. Thus, self-interest demanded that the man do something about the situation.
Diana, who was nobody's fool, guessed that the glowing green pendant was the power center and managed to obtain her prize while Anyanka was laying on the ground. The Council operative then looked for something to smash it.
"NO!" Anyanka screamed, struggling to get up. "You mortal buffoon, do you really want to commit suicide that way?"
"What?" Diana paused, a paperweight in her hand now directly above the jewel.
Anyanka got back on her feet, but didn't dare approach the human woman for fear of setting her off. "Didn't that moron brat tell you? You're DEAD in that other world, you idiot! You don't exist anymore, some vampire named Kakistos tortured you to death!"
Diana Dormer, former Harvard professor and well-respected member of the Watchers Council, looked horrified at hearing that information. Somehow, she instinctively knew it was true. With no one else left alive, Diana looked over towards Rack – and the Watcher still had utterly no idea who the guy was, or why he had picked sides in this battle – and silently asked his opinion on what to do.
"Sorry. But if you don't do it, I will, " Rack said calmly as Anyanka hissed and glared at him.
Numbly, Diana thought to herself, ( I really do hope that other world truly is as good as Cordelia said it was. ) Glancing at her dead Slayer, the woman brought the paperweight down. ( Goodbye, Faith. Your life can only be better in that other world. )
"NO!!!!"
The entire world dissolved into oblivion the instant the amulet was smashed to pieces, Anyanka's scream echoing into the white void.
Sunnydale High Quad, Sunnydale
December 1st, 1998
"You wanna know what I wish? Right now, I wish that I'd never met Xander Harris!" Cordelia cried.
"Done!" Anya said, before looking confused. She was not yet aware of how she was now powerless, and no longer Anyanka. Then Anya felt how her amulet was missing. ( NO!!! )
"Whoa!" Cordelia staggered as the memories of the Wish world poured into her brain, given how she'd never been killed there. She whirled around to glare at Anya, who now also recalled that other timeline and how Diana had smashed her amulet.
"You!" Cordy yelled, incensed at how she'd been used by the vengeance demon. "You bitch, how dare you do something like that to me!"
Anya growled incoherently at her, and a hair-pulling chick fight commenced. Willow, Buffy and Xander, who were seated on their bench nearby, quickly came over and pulled them apart; Buffy took Cordelia and Xander took Anya.
"Okay, what is going on here?" Harris asked, as Miss Jenkins struggled like an angry python within his grasp.
"Don't let her get away! She's evil!" Cordelia yelled. Unfortunately, Anya kneed Harris in the family jewels upon hearing that, and as Xander bent over wheezing, the ex-demon made good her escape.
Giles subsequently came over and demanded to know what was going on. "You lot do have classes, y'know," he said in that wonderfully peeved British tone. "Now surely this can all wait till later, can't it?"
Surprising everybody, Cordelia gave the librarian a gigantic bone-crushing hug. She didn't care anymore about her reputation if the ex-Cordettes saw her; that part of her life was already in tatters anyway. "Giles, thank God you're alive! You too, Buffy. Willow, even you as well I guess. 'Cause it sure beats the alternative anyway."
"Now that's funny, because she LOOKS like Cordelia," Xander said in confusion.
Suddenly, Cordy came over and slapped him. "You acted like a complete moron, messing up what we had together! No way do you deserve to be granted forgiveness, which is like obvious to everyone within the sighted community," she commented acidly. "But I made a deal with God, and so I'm sticking to my end of it. That's why I'm taking you back – at least on a trial basis, for now."
Willow, Buffy and Giles just gaped at her, but Xander grew angry from the stinging pain and verbal barbs. "Whoa, whoa, hang on, Cor. No matter how justified you might be with that whole moron thing and all, you think I'M going to take YOU back after everything that's happened lately?"
"If you know what's good for you, then yes. Because, bottom line? I've seen what Sunnydale would have been like if you were never here, and believe you me – I didn't like any single part of what I saw." She turned to Willow, "By the way, you little hussy. So help me God, if you ever even look at him that way again? I will rip out your spine and beat you to death with it!"
Willow relaxed a little; despite the craziness factor, this was obviously still the same old Cordelia. "Cordy, what's happened to you? Why are you acting like this?"
Miss Chase looked around and said decisively, "Not here. I'll explain everything in the library, alright? All of you, let's go. I swear, have I got a story that you people are most likely never gonna believe..." Cordelia led the way, literally dragging Xander along as a confused Buffy, Willow and Giles followed in their wake.
What was done had been undone, and now it was just another sunny day in home sweet Hellmouth.
At least, for the moment.
The End