[Disclaimer] Please don't sue me. They aren't mine!
[Feedback] I'm a card holding feedbackoholic
[Pairing] C&A all the way- with slight W&F shadows
[A/N] Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent me such great feedback!!!!! I write for you guys, and I'm glad you like it.
[A/N 2] I'm becoming one of the people I hate most- the ones who take forever to update. I'm so sorry I havent updated in so long, but I've been super busy this summer, with work. I'm such a lucky soul...pulling 50 hour work weeks. Yippee, and hoorah and all that is good. But I'm trying to update on weekends. I hope to have this complete in a few more chapters... this has turned out much larger than I intended!
"He's gone." Angel noticed as the banging outside ceased.
"But not forgotten." Cordelia sighed, trying to make a light joke. She stood and walked to the big empty fireplace. "How do we get ourselves into these messes." She smiled at him.
"It's all in a days work of helping the helpless." Angel said simply.
"Think he'll find Wes and the gang?"
Angel didn't say anything. Then, after a beat: "I hope not. None of us are safe in this house." Cordelia nodded her agreement.
Cordelia hugged herself as she stood by the mantel. "It's getting colder in here." Angel shook his jacket off and tossed it to her. She smiled her thanks and slipped into it. The pleasant scent that was uniquely Angel surrounded her.
"So," He said, a little too cheerfully. "About that nightmare." He got up from the bed and walked next to me. He had a cheeky grin on his face and looked just a little too cocky for her tastes. "You're biggest nightmare is losing me?"
Cordelia tried not to smile. "Not just you."
"But, I am part of the nightmare, no less?"
"You are a nightmare, Angel." They were quiet for a moment. "Besides, your nightmare clearly stated that you were afraid of losing me."
"Well, everyone's afraid of their best friend dying."
Cordelia smiled to him and turned back to the fireplace. "So what now?" She asked, "Jump out and get killed? Stay in here and let the others die?"
"We have to go get them."
"But... what if they're already gone? What if we step outside and he's there? We'll never be able to warn him with Frankenstein on our case."
Angel looked around and then turned back to her. "We can go back outside. The way we came in."
"And what if the front door is gone again? What if the basement disappears and then we're stuck in that deserted world? We can't save them if we're on a different plane!"
"That's a chance we have to take. We can't save them holed up in here, and we certainly can't save them when we're dead." Angel started to walk from the fireplace and Cordelia followed him. He walked to the back of the room where the large door to the basement stood. "You can come with me, or stay here. I'll come get you once-"
"What? No! Im not playing damsel in distress. Locked in the castle room until the knight in shining armor comes to save me. No thanks."
"You just said you didn't want to go."
"I said I didn't want to go." Cordelia pushed the large door open. "I didn't say I was incompetent." Angel didn't argue as she walked down the stairs to the basement. "So how are we going to find them? We've been here for hours and no luck yet."
"I don't know... we'll just find them."
"If I tell you something, do you promise not to repeat it?" Cordelia pushed the outside door open and walked outside. Angel followed.
"Of course." Was his answer.
Cordelia sighed and looked around the faux backyard. "I've never been so scared before. And I've seen alot. The Ascension. The Master. You." She shot him an apologetic look. "Vocah. Pylea. We've been through so much, but this is the first time I feel absolutely helpless. This house has us, Angel. It owns us and when it's done playing with us, we're dead. And we can't escape that. We can't stop it. We're going to die in here, Angel, and there isn't anything we can do about it."
*****
Fred winced as her skin tore against the splintered wood. She made her way out of the hole in the door into the hallway. Behind her, Wes trampled his way through. She sighed and looked at the sword in her hands.
"Yo, guys, what about me?"
Gunn's voice could be heard from the other side of the door. His hand still rest in the nook.
"The sword!" Fred said as she remembered. Gunn wouldn't be able to move his hand without the ceiling moving again.
"Ok, I'm going for it." Gunn yelled form the inside again.
"If you feel you cant make it, don't push yourself." Wes advised. Gunn grunted his understanding.
Gunn yanked his hand from the nook in the wall and began to run across the room to the door. Just a few feet above him, the ceiling began to fall quickly.
"Hurry!" Fred yelled.
Gunn made his way to the door and shoved his head out, then struggled to free the rest of his body. The ceiling was pressing against his legs, and he knew if he didn't hurry, he would become crippled in a matter of moments. Wes and Fred reached down and grabbed his hands, pulling him through the hole in the door just as the cement settled against the ground. A loud thump was heard as the cement hit the floor, and clouds of dust shot through the opening. Gunn panted heavily as he stood to his feet. "That was too close for my comfort." Gunn breathed.
Wes took his glasses off and wiped the clear lens. "We have to find Angel and Cordelia. Forget doing the spell. Our biggest worry is getting everyone out of here." Gunn and Fred nodded. "Perhaps we should just go backwards...the way we came."
"That's a great idea, Wes." Gunn stated. " 'Cept, we've tried that, and that only led us to being separated.
Wes rubbed his eyes. "Well what other choice do we have?" His tone was hinting on anger, but his face hid it well. "It's either walk and try to find a way out, or sit here and hope Angel finds us before another demon does. A soulless one, at that."
"I guess we have no other choice, really." Fred said, sounding somewhat defeated. She gave a weak smile. "Maybe we will run into Angel and -" A loud thump interrupted her. "Did ya'll hear that?"
Gunn took the sword out of Fred's hands and raised it defensively. Another thump was heard, closer this time. "Wes... I thought you said nothing could get us out in these halls, man."
Wes grabbed Fred's arm and began pulling her behind him. "We haven't been attacked while out here." He offered. Then, a large man stepped around the corner, standing only 50 feet away from them.
"Holy sh-"
"Run!" Wes yelled as he pulled Fred in the opposite direction. Gunn turned and ran after them. Loud thumps were heard as the heavy man's feet pounded the floor. "In here!" Wes said as they reached the end of the hall. He pushed the door on his right open and began to walk in. It was the huge ballroom he had visited before. The one that had trapped him in his own dusty hell.
"No!" Fred yelled and yanked her hand back. "No more rooms!" She started to cry, "Bad things always happen in those rooms and that one...that one's the worst and what if we get sucked up again and I can't take that, no not again. No more rooms, Wes. no more rooms."
Wes looked back to the huge man running at them. "Fred. Trust me. We'll be ok." He gently tugged her into the room and Gunn slammed the door shut behind them.
"Great idea, Wes." Gunn muttered. "We got nothing to hold the door shut."
"We have ourselves. And that's going to have to do."
"And what if it doesn't? What if he gets through here?"
"Well, that's not an option."
******
In any other, normal, healthy situation, Cordelia would not have been able to believe it. But, this was no normal, healthy situation. An hour ago, the house had been gone, and they had been plunged into the world of the Langoliers. But now, as she looked around the weed-riddled backyard, a large Victorian mansion stood. Like it belonged there. Like it was impossible to think otherwise. Like it was just a normal, healthy situation.
But of course, she knew better.
"Ok. What now?" She inquired.
"We go back inside through this door." Angel answered simply.
"And what if it doesn't lead to the inside?"
"We have to try." Angel began walking around the house to the front porch. Cordelia followed him silently. When they reached the front door, they exchanged nervous glances before turning the knob and pushing it open.
Normal. Completely and totally normal.
"Of course it's normal." Cordelia muttered. "It's playing with our heads." Angel said nothing as he walked into the foyer. Cordy followed him, mumbling something incoherently about a wrecking ball.
"Shh." He whispered to her as they ascended the stairs. They made their way to the second level and looked around. Everything was how they left it. The first door to the left was ajar, and through the tiny crack, Angel saw nothing but darkness. He knew there was no point in checking. There would be nothing there. "Why don't we go this way this time?" He point to the right, where a set of double doors waited at the end of he hall.
"I got a better idea. You go that way... I'll go that way." Cordy pointed down the stairs towards the main entrance.
"Ok. See you around."
Cordy said nothing but punched him, not so playfully.
"Those doors must led upstairs."
"Don't say that. Every time you say the word must, something happens to us and we almost go ka-plooey." Angel shot her a look and she returned it. "Look, all I'm saying, is in a world where we have vamps, seers, demons, and slayers, Murphy's Law doesn't sound so far fetched anymore, does it?"
Angel once again said nothing, but silently agreed. "Ok. Let's go to those doors." He began walking and Cordelia followed him, practically jogging to keep up with his long strides.
"Ok... let's play pretend, shall we? Ok, we find Wes, Gunn and Fred. They're alive. Then we find Adam. Now what? We have no weapons, Angel. No knowledge of what he is, if knowledge even exists, that is. And...a-and let's pretend we kill Adam. We can't get out of here unless Eve lets us." Angel stopped walking and looked at her. "Yeah, you know its true as much as I do. Angel, this woman has enough power to make a fictional house and tap into our hippocampus to see what memories and thoughts are hiding. We aren't going to defeat her without weapons, and ya think she's just going to left them just chillin so that we can find them and stop her? No way. I wouldn't be surprised if that door led to a brick wall."
Angel sat silent, letting her words sink in. "Ok, Cordy, let's continue your game. We give up now, and sit here. Fred dies, because she can't defend herself. Wesley gets hurt and can't fight. Gunn is stuck defending for two people. And then, Adam finds them. He kills them both with nothing more than a few back hands to the face, and then there's only us left, but here we are, giving up, and giving in. He finds us, and we just give up, and we die. What then, Cordy? Just... just let Lorne stay at the Hyperion, never knowing what happened to us? Allow Connor to grow up, never remembering us? Oh I know--"
"Shut up, Angel."
"--Lorne can tell Connor about the great fight his CHAMPION father put up when his friends were in danger."
"Shut up, Angel."
"How I sat down and gave up because I didn't think it was worth it! Is it worth it to you, Cordelia!? Is it?"
"SHUT UP!" Cordelia snapped her hand out and slapped Angel hard across the face. He didn't show the least sign of hurt, but his eyes glared. Cordelia's jaw tightened, and she swallowed hard. "Of course it's worth it, you asshole, I'm just telling you to think it over."
Angel stared at her a moment longer, then his expression softened. "I know... Cordy. I know, I'm sorry... I'm just-"
"Really stressed." Cordelia sighed. "I know. I'm sorry, too. This house...this stupid house. I've never felt so helpless and negetive before." She sighed again, and her voice was edging on tears. "I trust you to save us...I trust you with my life...but, theres this huge part of my brain screaming, Theres no way out, just give up. And I want to listen to it. Embrace it even. Oh, God." Cordelia sobbed and leaned back against the wall, letting herself slide down until she was sitting on the floor.
Angel sighed and knelt down in front of her. "I hate to tell you this...but he isn't listening."
