See Prologue for disclaimer and details. Greetings everyone, and welcome to the latest chapter of Childhood's End! Thanks as always to everyone who's sent feedback of all kind, it's truly appreciated (and pretty much makes your day as a writer). Okay, so we're moving along towards the end of season one, and the relationships between Xander and the people in his life are kinda complicated. Then again, it's the Buffy-verse and Xander Harris we're talking about, so we're planning to make things even more complicated for him, as you'll see towards the end of the chapter! Hmm, is it evil to want a sixteen-year-old kid to be put into these sorts of situations? Read on, and tell us what you think...
Part Ten: Cloak of Invisibility
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
May, 1997
"Morning, you two," Julia Chase said as she walked into the kitchen. "Jean-Michel, what's for breakfast?"
"For Madam, there is freshly made French toast," the chef replied politely. "For her daughters, there is bacon and eggs on toast, just the way Mesdemoiselles like them."
Dawn and Cassandra giggled, truly the image of best friends forever, and something more. Miss Harris had been formally adopted into the Chase family by now, even though Xander hadn't.
Dawn had in fact badgered her big brother to become part of the team as well and change his last name, but he'd said no for all the reasons he'd previously listed to both his father and Mrs. Chase. The young man hadn't mentioned details regarding all that to Dawnie, of course; instead telling her it just wasn't something he needed. He was fine with simply maintaining the status quo.
"Have either of you seen Xander and Cordelia this morning?" Mrs. Chase suddenly asked, looking around.
"They left for school early today. Cordy's still on that huge 'I-gotta-be-elected-May-Queen' kick," Cassandra rolled her eyes.
"Well, stuff like that is important to her," Dawn shrugged.
"Sure, but she's really desperate about this one! I mean is it just me, or does Cordelia love titles way too much?" Cassandra shot back.
"That's enough, Cassandra," her mother said at once. "Believe me, when you get to that age you might feel differently about it all."
"Yeah, 'cause next year we're freshmen there at Sunnydale High, huh?" Dawn said. "Y'know, it's gonna be so weird attending the same school as Xander and Cordelia again after the past two years."
"Tell me about it. Especially when Big Brother goes into overprotectiveness mode, and scares off any boy even remotely interesting!" Cassandra sighed.
( And thank God for that, to be honest. Ah, I'm glad I'm not young anymore. How they suffer so, ) Mrs. Chase thought to herself with a hidden smile.
Sunnydale High, Sunnydale
The same time
"For the last time, will you please not go near that weirdo Buffy Summers and her two geek pals?!"
Xander was walking along with Cordelia and Harmony in the school hall. The three teens were nearly at the library entrance as Harris asked the Chase girl tiredly, "Why?"
"Because for one thing, your association with them is hurting Cordy's chances to become May Queen!" the blonde second-in-command stated as if it was obvious.
At that moment, the Slayer came barging out of the library. She bumped into Miss Kendall and dropped her bag, spilling out its contents: a couple of stakes, a couple of crosses, a mace and other stuff. On cue Cordelia said, "Uhhh! Behold, the weirdness!"
Buffy looked up at her. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing with this stuff, right?"
Cordy glared at the girl who had once mistakenly tried to stake her at the Bronze. "Wow, I'm not!"
The Chosen One saw Xander was also present and said hurriedly, "Uh, it's for History class."
"Right, for show and tell or something isn't it?" Harris tried to support Buffy.
"Yeah! Mr. Giles has this, like, hobby of collecting stuff...which he lent me...for show and tell. I did mention it's for History class, right?" Buffy babbled.
Harmony looked disgusted. "You are always hanging with that creepy librarian in that creepy library. What's wrong with you?" she asked the Slayer.
"Nothing," Buffy replied, even if the retort sounded weak even to her own ears. She then picked up her stuff. "Xander, you're meeting us for lunch today, right?"
"Ye-" Harris started to say, when he caught both Cordelia and Harmony glaring at him. "Uh, I'll have to get back to you on that one, Buff. Something's come up and I might not be able to make it."
The Slayer wasn't stupid and could guess what was going on. She had once been the Spordelia of Hemery High, after all. The Chosen One just left with a sad look on her face.
Cordy watched the dark blonde girl leave. She disliked the Slayer on many levels. Firstly, Buffy was living proof that her skills in judging people were flawed. Second, ever since Buffy had evinced interest in Xander, she had automatically become competition to the rich girl. "I don't know why this school admits mentals like her!"
"She's not like that. I mean, do you even know the Buffster well enough to say that?" Xander demanded. He was getting annoyed with Cordelia about this sort of thing. Especially after he had defended her to Willow about what she was really like in private.
"Well, I know that she's freakishly strong. I mean I saw Buffy dangling some guy by the neck once, his feet weren't even touching the ground!" Harmony said.
Cordelia stared at her briefly, before focusing back on Xander. "Please. Do this for me? Stay away from her, Willow and Jonathan till after I'm elected May Queen." Xander opened his mouth when she instantly added, "Xander, don't make me beg you for this. Please."
A sigh. "Fine. Just give me a chance to explain it to Will first, somehow." His eyes narrowed. "And you're never going to accept the fact that Willow's my friend, are you? I mean, do you even care how much it really hurt when she refused to speak to me for all those months?"
Deciding not to talk to this guy about that particular redhead, or the annoying feeling that she was asking him to choose between them, Cordelia just stalked off to find her boyfriend Mitch. Harmony and Xander were then left alone together, as the Cordette glared at him.
"What is it now?" Xander demanded.
"You're a complete moron," Harmony replied in disgust, the blonde looking as if Harris was dog doody on the sidewalk or something.
"Okay, ya know what? That's it," Xander declared, finally pushed to the limit. "I'd really like to know, Harmony. Just what is your problem with me? What the hell have I ever done to you, besides be Xander Harris?"
Miss Kendall intensified her glare. "Fine, here it is! You're still the same worthless waste of space you've been since kindergarten – except that now, because you live with Cordelia's family, I'm supposed to be nice to you."
"And that's what really grates your cheese?" Harris demanded hotly.
"No, or at least not entirely. There's also the fact that my best friend has fallen in love with someone as low as you on the totem pole, and there's nothing I can do to snap her out of it!"
That gave Xander pause for a second, even as the insult registered in his subconscious mind. ( Cordy's in love with me? No way! I mean, I figured there were definitely feelings after everything that's happened, but love? ) "Uh, but Cordy's with what's-his-name nowadays, Mitch Fargo..."
"So what? I mean, how many boyfriends has she gone through since last year? So many that I've lost count," Harmony snapped. "And that's because you don't have what it takes to step up and try to claim what Cordelia thinks is yours."
"Harmony..." Xander now felt like he was on uncertain ground, as he glanced around nervously to see if anyone was nearby.
"I mean for God's sake, you're like a piece of crap stuck on her shoe! What's up with you, Xander, really? You could have easily become one of the elite by now! All you had to do was take advantage of all your opportunities. Instead, you're still the same nerd you were at the start of freshman year-" Harmony looked stressed as she tried to get her point across.
"And you're still the same backstabbing airhead who made a play for me last month, remember?" Xander interrupted, sick of the diatribe already.
Harmony looked pale at the mention of that incident outside the Chess Club. "That. Never. Happened!" she hissed at once, fearfully looking around like Xander had just done.
"Oh, Xander..." Harris tried to imitate Harmony's high-pitched voice, staring off into space like an airheaded girl.
"Stop it!" the blonde tried not to yell.
"Take me, I'm yours-"
Harmony's fist crashing into his stomach was completely unexpected, and Xander bent over and wheezed. "Shut up! I mean it!" Miss Kendall snarled before she stormed off.
"Yeah, got that part," Xander croaked, as he straightened up and gingerly walked off away from the library entrance as well. ( And my luck with women is obviously still holding firm. )
He was more right than he knew. Too bad for Xander that his conversation with Harmony just now had been overheard by the invisible girl known as Marcie Ross.
A drinking fountain, Sunnydale High balcony
A while later
Marcie was a girl with a plan. And Miss Ross had not been idle since eavesdropping on those three particular teenagers.
In the boys' locker room Mitch had gotten himself attacked by the invisible femme, and ended up badly injured. Buffy, feeling majorly left out after hearing Jonathan and Willow reminiscing about the days before she'd arrived in town, had then investigated what had happened with Fargo after hearing him say that he'd been attacked by a lone baseball bat.
The Watcher had subsequently assigned his Slayer and her friends their various duties, including looking up the names of missing kids; in case this was the work of a poltergeist. It was a long shot, but then this was Sunnydale, and nothing could be taken for granted.
Harmony knew nothing about all that, though, as she approached Cordelia. "Hey, you weren't in fifth period. What happened?"
Miss Chase looked up. "I went to the hospital."
Harmony nodded, "Oh, right, Mitch. How is he? Will he be okay?"
Cordelia said, "Well, the doctor says he'll be fine. In fact, they're gonna send him home tomorrow. But...you should've seen him laying there, all black and blue. How's he gonna look in our Prom pictures? How am I ever gonna be able to show them to anyone?"
( Geez, as if you two are actually gonna last that long anyway. ) "Um, have you considered waiting a decent interval, and then dumping him for someone else in time for the dance?" Harmony asked tentatively.
Cordelia considered that. The idea wasn't totally unattractive, but still brought with it its own set of problems. "Like who?"
Xander showed up. "Hey, Cordelia. I talked to Willow-"
At that moment, Marcie struck again. Harmony jerked backward, and then tumbled down the stairs. Xander, Cordy and other students came running down after her; Principal Snyder, who'd seen it happen too, shoved some kids aside and then told one of them to get the school nurse.
Cordelia called out fearfully, "Harmony!"
Harmony complained, "Ow! Oh, my ankle! I think it's broken."
Buffy finally showed up. "What happened?"
Snyder said to Buffy vindictively, "Hey! Who's the principal around here?" He then asked Harmony, "What happened?"
Cordelia babbled, "She fell! She, she, we were standing at the top of the stairs and she just fell! All by herself!"
Harmony instantly denied it. "No way! I was pushed!"
Xander, who from his better angle on the balcony had indeed seen Harmony fall as if she had been pushed, heard laughter and footsteps going up the stairs. He followed the sound and, once at the top of the stairs, he saw a door close all by itself. Harris quickly went inside and found himself in the music room. "Hey. Is anybody in here?"
There was nothing but silence, and Xander failed to see the ceiling access hatch rise all by itself. "Man. This school is getting just too freaky for words," the young man muttered, backing out of the classroom.
He went to find Giles, because like it or not the Watcher was the big brain on campus with regard to the weird around here. Together with the Slayer and the Slayerettes, Xander figured out it wasn't a ghost that had pushed Harmony down the stairs, but rather a person; albeit one who couldn't be seen.
Willow and Jonathan subsequently figured out that between Mitch and Harmony, their invisible girl was targeting people close to Cordelia. But they waited till after Xander was gone to share that info with the rest of the group, realizing that Harris wouldn't like it if they tried to sideline him from what was going on, or try to put him in some sort of protective custody, or whatever.
The gang quickly decided to put Buffy on stakeout duty for him and Cordelia, which the Slayer did that night while the Chase girl was working on her May Queen dress. She could tell the five Cordettes were driving Xander mad, so Buffy wasn't in the least surprised when he finally exited the room steaming.
Elsewhere in the library at that moment, Giles walked to a glass-enclosed bookcase and absently noticed his own reflection. He turned away and was startled by Angel, who was standing almost right in front of him. The librarian looked back at the glass, but didn't see his companion there. So he said, "Of course. A vampire casts no reflection."
Angel reassured him, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you."
Giles nodded, but the Watcher still couldn't help being nervous. "Buffy told me you, uh, you don't feed from humans anymore?"
Angel shrugged. "Not for a long while."
"Is that why you're here? To see her?" Rupert suddenly asked, remembering the last time at the Bronze when he'd seen this creature.
The soul-cursed vampire shook his head. "I was looking for Xander, actually, not Buffy. It's, uh...it's too hard for me to be around her."
Giles raised his eyebrows slightly. "Yes, I'd imagine so. A vampire in love with a Slayer. It's rather poetic, in a maudlin sort of way. Well, I'm afraid the boy's not here right now either. So is there, uh...anything else can I do for you?"
Angel considered the British man carefully. "I heard you've been researching the Master."
The Council's field operative shrugged minutely. "Yes, well. E-ever since that little nightmare episode last month, I've been trying to learn as much as I can about him. The day will come when Buffy will eventually face him, no doubt."
"Yeah. And something's already in motion, something big, but I don't know what. You've read all the Slayer lore there is, right?"
Giles looked hesitant for a moment. "I-I've studied all the extant volumes, of course. But the, uh, most salient books of Slayer prophecy have been lost. The Tiberius Manifesto, the Pergamum Codex-"
"The Codex?" Angel interrupted.
Giles clarified, "It's reputed to have contained the most complete prophecies about the Slayer's role in the end years. Unfortunately, the book was lost in the fifteenth century."
The former Angelus quickly disagreed, "Not lost, misplaced. I can get it."
Giles exhaled in astonishment. "That would be most helpful! Uh, m-my own volumes have...been rather useless of late. And given the fact that there's an invisible girl currently terrorizing the school, that's far more of an understatement than I'd like."
Angel briefly considered that problem. "Not really my area of expertise."
"Nor mine, I'm afraid. Uh, it's fascinating, though. By all accounts it's a, a, a wonderful power to possess."
Angel didn't look like he agreed with the Watcher's opinion at all. "Oh, I don't know. Looking in the mirror every day and seeing nothing there. It's an overrated pleasure." Then he did his standard vanishing trick as Giles blinked stupidly for a moment.
"Vampire speed, of course. I'll need to remember that."
Sunnydale High parking lot, Sunnydale
A few minutes later
As Cordelia approached her car, she saw that yummy piece of man-meat who Xander knew from somewhere, and her breathing quickened. It wasn't that she was completely shallow or fickle with her feelings regarding Harris, of course; but rather she couldn't let such a fine male specimen simply walk past without being charming and polite.
"Hi! How are you, um...?" To her horror, Cordy suddenly realized she wasn't sure what his name was. "Uh, Axel?"
"It's Angel," the vampire said shortly. "And you shouldn't be out alone after dark."
"What? Who are you, my father?" Miss Chase demanded, rather annoyed.
"It's dangerous for kids to be out alone at night in this town," Angel insisted. "Take my advice, stay at home or in public places from now on."
There is almost nothing worse you can say to a female teen Cordelia's age than call her a 'kid'. Her ire rising, the Chase girl opened her mouth for a scathing reply when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Cordelia, can we talk?"
( Willow? ) The brunette suddenly started as she realized Angel had vanished. Then when Willow joined her, Cordy's attention focused on the red-haired girl. "What is it? I have to go home and catch up on my to-do list, you know."
"Yeah. Look, Xander talked to me today about this thing of avoiding me and my friends till after the May Queen election. And I just want you to know, I'm onto you."
"'Scuse me?" Cordy demanded.
Willow looked angrier than Miss Chase had ever seen her. Of course, that was because she knew nothing about how that little affair with Moloch had changed Miss Rosenberg's attitude about a lot of things, including her relationship to Xander. "I said, I'm onto you and your little scheme."
"What scheme?" Cordelia demanded in the same tone of voice.
"You're trying to separate us. You're, you're trying to cut me out of the picture, shake your boobs at him and make Xander think only about you! Even if you already have a boyfriend. Well, it's not gonna work!" Willow said heatedly.
Cordelia looked her up and down carefully. "Oh, now I see what this is all about. Well, I'm sorry Willow, but you lost your chance with Xander. Have you ever considered that maybe you never really had one to begin with?"
The smartest girl in school refused to acknowledge that. "I may have royally screwed up by being so upset with him when I learned about you two, but Xander said that's all in the past now, what happened between you guys. I still have a chance, and you know it!"
"Is that why you oh-so-subtly warned Buffy off of him?" Seeing Willow's expression, Cordelia's smirked. "Oh, please, who do you think you're dealing with? Of course I figured it out, I'm Cordelia Chase! And it's not exactly over between us."
"What?" Willow demanded in a horrified whisper.
"Let's just say we still have feelings for one another. I don't know what's holding the guy back, but I do know Xander thinks about me in a way he doesn't think about you. And I can afford to wait."
Cordelia took a small hesitant step forward and dropped the hostility act. "Look, Willow, I really am sorry things didn't work out between you the way you wanted them to. You may not believe this, but I know how it feels to not get something you so desperately want. But Xander likes you. A lot. He even loves you, I'll bet, but not in a girlfriend-y way. You were his best friend, and he really misses that. But I think that's all it ever could be with you guys. If you're honest with yourself, I think deep down you know that too. So please cherish that and don't shut him out anymore. For Dawn's sake, if nothing else."
Cordelia's tone, her whole demeanor in fact, had become sympathetic and friendly, something Willow had never thought she was capable of. Her eyes widened as she realized Xander may have been right all along about the evil Queen of Sunnydale High.
Nevertheless the brunette's words cut just as deeply as if she had been the nasty bitch Willow always thought her to be, maybe even more so because her sincerity forced the redhead to really consider the awful truth of them.
Willow was in tears as she ran away, frustrating Cordelia as she got into her car. She easily anticipated Xander's reaction once he heard about this at school tomorrow and thought to herself, ( Yeah, I better make with the explanations as soon as I get home. Make sure he gets both sides of the story if she goes flying off the handle at him. )
Sunnydale High quad, Sunnydale
The next day
As Cordelia started making her acceptance speech after triumphantly being elected May Queen, Buffy noticed Willow and Xander off to the side talking. Well, maybe 'talking' was an overly polite way to put it; Harris was moving his lips, but the Rosenberg girl was just glaring at him with her mouth sealed in disapproval.
Just then, Jonathan joined the Chosen One. "Hey. Giles said you'd be here."
"Yeah, last night was a bust. But I still think you and Will were right, Cordelia's definitely the key to all this."
Jonathan brought out a collection of papers. "Here. This is the dead and missing persons list Giles had Willow compile."
"Cool." Buffy snatched the list and examined it. "Check this out. It's the most recent one, Marcie Ross. Disappeared, like, six months ago."
Levinson shrugged. "Never heard of her."
"Me neither. Hmmm. Her only activity was band. She played the flute," Buffy mused.
"So?"
"Well, last night I heard this flute, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. You know what, I think I'm gonna check this out a bit further. See you later?" Buffy folded up the list and gave it back to the Slayerette.
"Okay, see you after Geometry."
Buffy nodded and moved off, eventually checking out the empty music room. She finally noticed the hatch to the ceiling and made her way up there, looking around in surprise. She grabbed Marcie's yearbook from within the invisible girl's lair, and then retreated to Slayer Central to confab with her mentor.
"Giles, it was way creepy. It looked like she's been living there for months. And what sort of sane person would want to live at school?" Buffy asked.
"Oh my God," Watcher and Slayer heard Jonathan say. "You guys, look at this!"
Buffy looked at the words 'Have a nice summer' written in the back of the yearbook by all of the people who'd signed it. "This girl had no friends at all?"
"Uh, once again I teeter at the precipice of the generation gap," Giles interjected in confusion.
"'Have a nice summer' is what you write when you have nothing to say. It's like the kiss of death," Jonathan informed him. "And I should know, it's happened to me often enough."
"So, no one noticed her, and now she's invisible," the Chosen One ruminated.
"Marcie turned invisible just because no one noticed her?" Levinson asked in disbelief.
"Of course!" Giles shouted. "I've been investigating the mystical causes of invisibility when I, I should have looked at the quantum mechanical." Off both their looks he went on, "Physics. It's a rudimentary concept that, that reality is shaped, even, even...created by our perception. People perceived Marcie as, as, as invisible, and, and, and, and thus she became so, thanks to the Hellmouth."
Jonathan shook his head. "So now what do we do?"
"Find her," Buffy said at once.
If only it was that simple. Not far away, Xander was about to go into serious mope mode after the 'conversation' with Willow – when he got hit on the head from behind with Mitch's baseball bat. Knocked out cold, Marcie quickly dragged Harris away in preparation for the big event later tonight.
Sunnydale High school corridor, Sunnydale
A short while later
Cordelia took a deep breath, really not wanting to go through with this. But recent events had permanently disabled her ability to repress, and there was no one else she could think of who could help her in this situation.
So she strode into Slayer Central, and saw the Slayer alongside the librarian. Willow and Jonathan were also present, but she ignored them. "Yeah, I knew you'd be here. Buffy, I, uh, I, I know we've had our differences in the past, with you being so weird and all, and constantly hanging out with these two social rejects..."
Willow and Jonathan looked like they couldn't believe she'd just said that right in front of them, but Miss Popularity continued on, "Well, anyway, despite all of that, I know that you share this feeling that we have for each other, deep down."
"Nausea?" Willow interjected cattily. She was still upset and hurt over how Cordelia had forced her to re-examine her relationship with Xander.
Cordy suddenly lost it and babbled, "Somebody's after me! They just tried to kill Ms. Miller. Uh, she was helping me with my homework. And what happened to Mitch? And Harmony?! This is all about me! Me, me, me!"
Buffy just looked at her. "So you came to me for help?"
Cordelia nodded. "Because you're always around when the weird stuff is happening. And I know you're very strong, and you've got all those weapons...I was kind of hoping you were in a gang?" She saw Buffy's expression and instantly said, "Come on, I don't have anyone else to turn to. And Daddy's money isn't something that can fix this!"
Giles got up and offered her a chair. "Please. Sit down."
Cordelia accepted the offer graciously, "Okay. Thanks."
The Watcher then mused, "You know, I...I don't recall ever seeing you here before."
Miss Chase nodded. "Yeah, you bet. Because I have a life."
Buffy exhaled in despair and began to explain about who Marcie was and how she seemed to be targeting the people closest to Cordelia. The brunette interrupted, "I don't care who she is, or why she's doing it! Just make the problem go away."
"It's not that simple. I mean Marcie's human, not a vampire or a demon," Jonathan said tentatively.
"A what or a what?" Cordy demanded in disbelief.
"Xander didn't tell you about that yet?" Willow asked crossly. Then her eyes went wide, "Hey, has anyone seen him lately?"
People looked around and shook their heads. Giles was the first to say it, "We must assume the worst, that he's become another victim of our invisible adversary. Buffy, you go look for him; the rest of us must find a way to restore this girl back to what she was, c-cure her of that damned invisibility."
"You people are crazy," Cordelia said assertively. "But if Xander's in trouble, I'm not just gonna sit on the sidelines..." She then checked her watch. "Oh! We better hurry. The May Queen coronation tonight at the Bronze, I can't afford to miss it!"
"Priorities, anyone?" Willow muttered angrily.
"Well? Let's go!" Cordy said roughly, ignoring that as she started pulling Buffy along. Once outside she asked the Chosen One, "Okay, which way?"
"Let's try the music room..." And as the two girls hurried, Buffy decided to offer some comforting words. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find him soon-"
"Will you knock it off? We're not friends, so quit it with the phoney reassurances," Tact Girl said hotly.
Buffy could sense something else in the cheerleader's tone, though. "You're still pissed about that night at the Bronze when I almost hit you with that stake, aren't you?"
"No, actually it's more to do with the fact that I know Xander still has a thing for you, and that one day you might decide to take him for a ride. Just like you did with Owen Thurman," Cordy snapped back.
The Slayer had a flashback both to that and her hyena possession. "Yeah, well, all things considered, I don't think that's gonna be a problem. As far as I'm concerned, these days Xander makes for a better friend than he does a potential boyfriend," she replied. ( And amen to that. No way can he possibly compete with Angel! )
Miss Chase would have stated her opinion on the matter, but they arrived at the music room at that moment and went inside. Unfortunately, not seeing their invisible assailant, both female teens ended up unconscious almost immediately; Marcie sending them into the realms of oblivion just like she'd done with Xander.
The Bronze, Sunnydale
Later that night
"Xander? Xander! Wake up!"
Slowly and groggily, the young man entered the world of consciousness. ( Cordy? ) he thought to himself in confusion. ( Oh my God. A-are we in bed together? )
The next instant disabused him of that notion, though. Xander discovered himself strapped to a throne of all things, with Cordelia strapped to her own throne right next to him. And whilst under other circumstances the concept of him being crowned May King alongside Queen C might have been amusing, at the moment Harris saw nothing funny about the situation. "What's going on?"
"Thank God," Cordelia muttered before she said, "Xander, I can't feel my face!"
"What?"
"My face, it's like completely numb. I can barely get my mouth to work!"
Squelching a comment about clouds and silver linings, Xander struggled with his ropes. "Okay, uh, don't panic-"
"It's a little late for that, ya know!" Cordelia snapped. "That psycho Marcie Ross has kidnapped us!"
"Who?" Xander asked. To his knowledge, this was the first time he'd ever heard that name.
"You don't remember me? Oh, I'm hurt. And to think you wrote 'have a nice summer' in my yearbook last year," Marcie's sarcasm-rich voice was heard on the Bronze stage.
Xander put it all together and quickly figured out Marcie Ross was the invisible girl's name. "Uh, Marcie? Look, if you'll just untie us, I'm sure we can work this out – find some way to help you become visible again, okay?"
Miss Ross laughed out loud. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? It's too late for that now. You know Xander, you may not remember me, but I remember you. Two years ago, you hated this pathetic slut even worse than I did. And then what do you do? You become her lapdog. You let her 'domesticate' you! Look at what you've been reduced to nowadays, blowing off and insulting your friends just because she asked for it."
"Y'know, I take it all back. I felt sorry for you, but now I realize there's something I didn't take into consideration. Which is the fact that you're a complete bitch!" Xander snapped out.
Marcie immediately punched him hard in the face. "Thank you. This is gonna be so much more pleasant than I'd anticipated!"
"What, what are you planning to do?" Miss Chase asked nervously.
Marcie didn't answer her. Instead, a tray of surgical instruments wheeled itself over to the bound duo. Then the Ross girl said, "I bet you enjoyed playing doctor with this guy, didn't you Cordelia? It gave you a thrill to make him want you, to make Xander salivate at the prospect of having you. Probably the lure of forbidden fruit, am I right? Well, let's find out just how tempting he is with his face sliced off, shall we?"
"Don't you dare, you invisible psycho!" Cordelia screamed at once.
"Oh, what is this? Cordelia Chase actually cares about someone other than herself?" Marcie mocked. "Don't worry, you're next after I'm done with your secret boyfriend here."
"She cares about her parents, and about Cassandra and Dawn. See, they're her sisters. Did you even know about them?" Xander asked. "Because one day, eventually, you're gonna have to face her family in court if you do this. You taken that part of it into consideration, Marcie? I kinda doubt it."
Marcie lifted a scalpel from the tray and swung it at Xander's chest. The sharp knife sliced cleanly through his clothes, and Harris grunted as the scalpel opened a shallow red line along his sternum. "Uggggh!"
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Marcie asked snidely. "Well, I better not dawdle with you. The anaesthetic I injected into Cordelia's face will wear off soon, and I don't want her to faint on me after I get started on her. It'd be a lot less fun if she's unconscious!"
The scalpel came up and headed directly from Xander's cheek when the side door opened and Angel came charging in. "You! Drop the knife, now!"
Marcie swung the scalpel around; but moving at inhuman speed, the vampire kicked it out of her hands. "You bastard!" she screamed. At once, the invisible girl began to attack him.
Fortunately, unlike a human, Angel could depend on more than just eyesight to battle against an enemy. The vampire could hear Marcie's heartbeat, along with Xander's and Cordelia's, and he was able to smell her as well. Thus, the battle proceeded on more-or-less equal terms until Cordelia started screaming her lungs out at the sight of Angel's game face.
"Cordy, SHUT UP!" Xander knew she was only distracting their best hope to survive.
"Okay," Miss Chase said in a moment of uncharacteristic meekness.
Finally, when he managed to get a red banner wrapped around Marcie, Angel got the upper hand and knocked her down. But at that moment, two men with drawn guns charged into the room. "FBI! Nobody move!"
Angel stopped moving at once, his eyes narrowing as he took in the newcomers. "Who are you?"
"I'm Agent Doyle, and this is Agent Manetti," one of the men said to Angel as the other headed for Marcie. "Just stay calm, sir. We're here for the girl."
"Where were you ten minutes ago when we needed you?" Xander demanded, feeling a little light-headed from the blood loss by now.
"I'm sorry. We came as fast as we could," Doyle said, as Manetti quickly handcuffed Marcie and started to drag her away. "We'll be on our way now. And in the interests of national security, it would be best for all of you to just forget about this whole incident," the man finished up.
Angel had heard enough. And he had also noticed how these so-called G-men hadn't even bothered releasing the hostages. ( If those two are really FBI, then I'm the Queen of England! ) But he could smell the attractive scent of Xander's blood even from here, and the vamp knew that getting the mortal boy to medical care had to be the priority. ( Harris, I really hope this is all gonna be worth it someday. Because you keep getting into far too much trouble for a kid your age! ) Thus Angel made no move to stop Doyle and Manetti leaving with Marcie, and instead went to untie both teens.
Cordy looked at her watch. "Oh my God, the coronation! It's gonna start in a few minutes." She looked down at herself and shivered; Marcie had deliberately put her into the May Queen dress for the occasion, which seriously grossed Cordelia out.
Angel nodded. "I'll take Xander out of here, get him patched up. You stay and cover our exit, just in case."
"Uh..." Cordelia looked for a moment as if she wanted to protest. But then she realized Angel would probably be a better choice than her for this sort of thing. Besides, there was no way she wanted to risk getting blood on her dress just before her big moment. ( There is not enough yuck in this world! ) So the brunette simply watched as the two males left by the side door, just as Snyder and the rest of the school committee arrived through the front and greeted the Queen-elect.
Chase Manor, Sunnydale
The next day
Xander winced, as he somehow stopped himself from scratching the itch on his chest from the damned scalpel wound.
After he and Angel had arrived back at the library the previous night, he'd learned that Buffy was all right after being knocked out at the same time Cordelia was. The others were a bit worse for wear after almost being gassed to death, but luckily the Slayer had discovered the locked door and let them all out before Willow, Jonathan and Giles had died.
In any case, Xander's wound had been taken care of just before Dawn and Cassandra arrived, looking for him. For the sake of appearances he'd let the girls take him back to the Bronze. Even if Cordelia had looked slightly flushed and nervous, the night had ended without further mishap. Which was of the good, as explaining away the semi-constant injuries to David and Julia Chase was putting a strain on even their blindness to reality.
"Are you okay?"
Harris turned around, and saw the May Queen had entered his bedroom looking rather worried. "Yeah, fine," he grunted. "Well, mostly."
"Lemme see..."
A rather awkward exam then took place. "Satisfied?" Xander then demanded irritably.
"Yeah. Uh, just so you know, I broke up with Mitch today," the female teenager said distantly.
"Really? Why?"
"He – and you – almost got killed because of me," Cordelia whispered, her expression growing more distant and frightened.
"Uh, yeah. Well, no big deal as far as I'm concerned. Wasn't the first time I've almost been killed during the past year or so. Wasn't even the second," Xander sighed. "So, I spoke to the gang last night. You know all about the demons and vampires now, right?" He'd noticed that she was wearing his old birthday present crucifix.
For a moment the cheerleader looked ready to deny it. Then her shoulders slumped as she remembered Angel's real face and said, "Yeah. I guess."
Harris could tell Cordy wasn't having an easy time of it. "Wish there was some way for me to make it easier for you," Xander admitted. "But I'm afraid there isn't."
"Okay, but here's the thing: I don't want to know about all this!" Cordelia almost shouted. "For God's sake, things like that shouldn't even exist! It's just too...and I almost lost you to that lunatic last night..." Making a decision, the young woman put her arms around Xander's neck and started kissing him fiercely.
"Cordy, don't. This isn't-" Xander started to say as their lips briefly parted.
"No. Whatever it is, whatever the reason or excuse or logic, I don't want to hear it because I don't care anymore. Damn it, Xander, if there's one thing I learned from that crazy skank last night, it's that life is way too short for all that crap. And haven't we waited long enough?" she demanded.
Xander looked into her eyes and saw the need there, as well as the passion and desire, and more importantly maybe even love. ( Oh, boy. ) His own conflicted feelings gnawing at him, eventually the young man didn't resist when she started making out with him again.
There was a polite cough at the door.
"So I take it you two aren't just 'friends' anymore?" Julia Chase asked, as the wide-eyed Cassandra and Dawn stared with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
TBC...
