Fates of Love
Author: BigHead /
Disclaimer: Everyone here belongs to someone else, except me. I belong to a boatload of taxes, hence no money being made
Summary: Fate has a wicked way of playing with the ones in their clutches.
Rating: Teen, for now.
Author's Notes: Thanks go to Greywizard and cmduhura, this time. And many thanks for all the reviews.
Feedback: YESSSS!!!! PLEEEEAAAASEEE!!
One of the strangest - or coolest - things about living in a penthouse previously owned by one of the richest men alive, who was also one of the smartest, was that when the telephone rang, it wasn't something as simple as a ringtone echoing on the nightstand. No, an artificial intelligence interface had control over the entire communications array installed over the penthouse, and among other things, it controlled security between callers. So, it was this AI who received the incoming phone call, identified the number the call originated upon, disabled the governments' - both British and American - taps on the line for the moment and warned the penthouse's inhabitant about it.
"Priority call. Giles' Pad. Priority call. Giles' Pad," the automated voice droned over a couple other times before Xander was awake enough to answer the call.
He coughed once, for a moment regretting the lack of his wife sleeping by his side, but it was her duty shift at the Watchtower. "Accept call. Yes?" he replied in a sleepy voice.
"X-Xander," he heard the voice of his best friend since forever blubbering on the other side, and he knew for a fact that something quite wrong had happened. Willow only sounded like that when she had been crying for a while.
"What's wrong, Will?" he asked, all sleep gone in a flash.
"Th-there's been..." she took a breath. "There's been an accident, Xander. Car accident. I don't have all the details now, but we know... Robin's dead, Xander."
Xander froze. "What about Faith and Hope?"
"T-they're good. Alive. Faith is a bit worse from the impact, but Hope is alright, Faith covered her with her body... They're at Cleveland Memorial being checked out. I'm calling because until we know for sure what happened, the Pad's in lockdown. You're the closest, and Buffy can't get out of Themyscira."
"She knows?" he asked, while putting on his pants.
"Yeah... she felt something. Told me to keep D'Hoffryn in check while we handle this."
Xander nodded to himself, even if the wicca couldn't see him. The strange connection between the last two Chosen Ones was something not even the redhead could explain much. He threw a clean shirt on, and grabbed one of his coats, his travel bag already pre-packed with slaying gear, his wallet and cell phone.
"I'm ready, Will. Get me to them."
A couple seconds later, he had vanished from the apartment.
Xander reappeared in the ER waiting room at Cleveland Memorial, a few seconds before two of the Slayers already in the room started with fists flying.
"Hey. HEY!" he screamed, not caring about being inside a hospital. The two girls didn't seem to be considering it either, but they both stopped to the known voice of authority among them. "Calm the FUCK down! What's wrong with you people? Isn't two of ours hurt and one dead enough for the night?" Xander said, slamming the truth home, and making them stop altogether.
A second later, his cellphone rang. He pulled it, checking the ID. "Hey," he said, trying to cool himself down.
"What's wrong, Xander?" Di asked, sounding very concerned. He figured she would be going nuts with the feedback from their bond.
"Car accident, Di. Robin's dead, I know Faith and Hope are alive, but I just arrived at the hospital. I don't know anything else."
The tone of voice that replied wasn't from his wife, but from the worldwide famous superheroine. "I'll meet you as soon as I can. Where are you?"
"Cleveland Memorial. Follow the fistfight when you arrive. I'll be nearby."
"Wait for me. I'll be there. I love you."
"Love you too," he said, and the line disconnected. He then turned to the young girls and some adults that had gathered around him and asked, as evenly as he could. "Now, could someone PLEASE explain to me what the Hellmouth happened?"
Faith and Hope had both been taken to the ER for a thorough check, the medics attending them taking their time with their examination. A pediatrician was brought in for a more in-depth analysis on Hope, but he pronounced her fit and well, if scared, a short while later. He ordered the nurses to take her out of the room and to calm her down, if they could. Faith was being prepped for a series of x-rays when she woke up in a panic. Being the last real Chosen One, waking up in a panic meant that people flew in every direction and the bindings holding her in place were so much scrap hanging loosely from her arms and legs. Wide eyes looked at her surroundings, the Slayer in the forefront of the woman's mind was searching for venues of escape and potential weapons, until someone appeared right in front of her who was not one of the blue men. Her senses stopped to assess the man, and they screamed 'trust', 'safe' and 'family' coming from him. As soon as the Slayer found something familiar and reassuring, the spirit went again to its almost slumber, allowing the woman it had last Chosen as its avatar to come to the fore.
"X-Xander?" Faith said, recognizing him, and in the next moment, she passed out.
Faith woke up once again, but this time in a more relaxed setting, a couple hours later. Xander was dozing off slightly, sitting on a chair close to her bed, the only space between them being occupied by Hope's crib. The girl was sound asleep, and Faith could hear her respiration and heartbeat clearly, which brought both a smile and tears to her eyes. She moved silently, torn between grabbing her and waking her up or letting her sleep. A finger traced the sleeping cherubic face, though.
The door to the room opened, admitting Xander's wife, who came closer to them.
"She's fine, sister. She's perfectly fine," Diana said, which served to calm her further and wake the one-eyed man.
"Hey, Faith," he said, standing up.
"Hi," she replied, without taking her eyes from Hope. "Robin?" she asked.
"Sorry, Faith," he replied, heart clenching. "We got the one responsible, though."
"What was it?" she asked, figuring one demon paid a high price for all of this.
"Stupid drunk driver," Xander replied, and Faith's head snapped in his direction. "Just a dumb fuck drunk driver."
Faith's world collapsed once again. It all had happened so fast - Hope was only alive and well because she was the Slayer; Faith didn't even remember starting to move before she was passing out from pain, her body partially covering the baby's car seat. She backed away from the crib, sitting back on the bed, strong arms holding onto her a moment later.
She cried for a very long time, Xander holding onto her while she did so. Diana backed out a bit and left the room to give her some privacy.
"I deserve it, you know?" she said, after the tears had stopped. "I can't be happy, the Powers keep making me pay for the people I killed."
Xander looked her straight in the eyes. "That's not only bullshit, Faith, it's stupid and you know it," he said with conviction. "It was an accident. The stupid fuck was drunk and caused it."
Faith looked at him, the already greenish yellow bruises on her face traced with the remains of her makeup. "No... It was my fault..." she managed to choke out. "I wanted us to just, you know, be normal tonight... Like what you and Diana have... Just the three of us, out for dinner and a drive. It was my idea, to leave everybody else behind tonight, once we got back in to Hopkins, we'd ditch everybody else to just go out, the three of us, like normal people... I picked out the restaurant and made the reservations... And now Robin's dead. And it's my fault..."
"Sister," whispered Diana as she took Faith's bandaged hand, careful to avoid the IV line. "You are not responsible... Not for this..."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Faith," continued Xander. "As bad as it sounds, shit happens. You and Robin decided to go out for dinner, have an evening with your little girl, with nothing supernatural or Slayer related to interrupt. Some stupid jackass - he decided to go out and drink, then drive himself home. He hit you. You did NOTHING wrong. You didn't kill Robin; you did protect your daughter, and almost got killed in the process, but you DID save her. It was an accident, and it sucks, and nothing is going to change that. But it's not your fault." Xander shook his head sadly. "It's the tragically normal stuff that happens every day, all around the world. You and Hope are as much the victims of normalcy here as Robin was."
"As much as I hate to say it, the dweeb's right, you know," interrupted another voice from the door, causing Xander's throat to clench and his heart to go cold. Immediately, Diana felt the combination of shock, terror, and, to her surprise, love, come across their bond.
"Whoever, whatever, you are, you are not welcome here..." said Xander through clenched teeth, never moving, not turning to see who was standing in the doorway.
Diana and Faith, however, both turned to see who it was. One of them didn't recognize the brunette, while the other did, and whispered her name.
"Cordelia?" Faith wondered for a moment if this was some kind of pain killer induced delusion. "But..."
"She's dead," hissed Xander, still refusing to turn towards the doorway. "Cordelia Chase is dead. And I don't know who or what you are, or why you're here, but you're not welcome and if you're still there, and still got her face on when I turn around, well, I'm really hoping hospital security is busy somewhere else, cause I'm going to enjoy pounding you a new look."
"I AM dead, dorkface, but since when did that stopped any of us doing what's right? You can touch me if you want, you know? Besides, it's going to be a while, a few millennia at least, before the First regains enough power to try anything else again."
Xander finally turned to the voice, seeing the woman he first loved standing close to the door. He stood up, face and emotions going all over the spectrum. She offered a hand to him, and almost fearfully he raised his own, fearing and at the same time wishing she was the real deal. When his callused fingertips touched the soft skin of the brunette's hand, his face opened into a huge grin, almost reflecting Cordelia's own. The soft touch turned into an almost bone-breaking hug.
"Hey, hag," he said, tears falling from his eyes.
"Hi, Xander. We can continue this later, I need to talk to Faith here," she said. Xander nodded and stood aside.
"Faith, I mean what I said - the Powers had absolutely nothing to do with the accident, and I came here to let you know that. Since you came back to your True Path, they assumed a policy of 'watch only', and that's how it's been for a while. So, cry for him, but know that what happened to him was just what happens to everyone, eventually. You deserve your happiness, don't let anyone say anything different," Cordy said, picking up the hand not being held by Diana.
Faith didn't know what to do, but she knew in her heart that Cordelia was speaking the truth, as painful as the truth was, so she nodded and lowered her head, the tears growing with the sobs. Cordelia hugged the Slayer, offering whatever comfort she could. Diana stood up silently and walked towards Xander.
"So, that's Cordelia," she said in a low voice, eyeing her husband with the corner of her eyes.
"Yeah..." he said, still confused about her presence. The Amazon at his side felt the same, since their bond reflected what he was feeling to her. He turned to his wife. "Look, I... I need to talk with her... I lost my chance of saying goodbye to Anya, and... Cordelia... she was special for me too. I... I have to talk with her, but..." he said, his heart in his eyes, and his feelings towards her flooding their bond.
"I understand, Xander. Losing a loved one is never easy, and this is an opportunity I wouldn't miss as well, if the positions were reversed. Go, talk with her, I'll keep Faith company while you do," she said with a smile. While she felt troubled about Xander's feelings towards the other woman, she couldn't really judge him for them. Closure was something important on a relationship, and while theirs was a long time ago, the woman's death robbed them the chance of patching things up, and they had been far too young back then to have the maturity to do so.
He grabbed her on a strong hug and kissed her, trying to project all of his love for her. She smiled at him and caressed his cheek, showing that she did indeed understand what he was feeling. He nodded, and walked to Cordelia and Faith.
Diana went to Hope's crib and stood watch over a sleeping Amazon, saying a silent prayer to the gods to watch over Robin's soul.
After offering whatever comfort she could to Faith, something the Powers would probably frown upon - like she cared - Cordelia turned to Diana, bypassing Xander for a moment.
"I'm actually honored in meeting you, Princess, however I need to talk with your husband for a bit. There are some things we have to clear between us, and I hope you don't mind. I'm NOT going to steal him away from you, if such a thing was even possible, but I need to convince the dork of some facts. He's quite boneheaded about some things," she said with a small smile, pointing over her shoulder towards a gobsmacked man.
Diana nodded. "From what he told me about you, I'd be honored in meeting and knowing you, Cordelia Chase."
"With the lifespan you both have, I'll make sure to drop in from time to time. Gets kinda lonely and depressing being an agent of the Powers after a while," the brunette said to Diana. "Take good care of the dork for me, he deserves his happiness, same as Faith does. They both got a crappy life at the beginning, and now that things were getting on track this happens..." she continued, looking to Faith, who had fallen asleep while holding her daughter's tiny hand. Xander was surprised with Cordelia, but his memories and knowledge of his old love proved to him finally that the woman with them was the real deal, not some sort of trap coming of one of their enemies.
The Amazon looked to them both. "As if I could do anything different," she pointed out.
"Good. I'll kidnap your husband for a while, and I promise I'll deliver him whole, if only with his ears a bit singed," she smiled.
Diana reflected the smile back at her, and Cordelia was none too gentle in dragging Xander away from the room. Once out, she looked both ways, then before he could blink, they were standing on the hospital's rooftop.
Xander was surprised with the sudden change of environment, but not really all that much. Willow did something similar, if only with a bit more fanfare. "Nifty trick," he said.
"Thanks, it saves on shoe leather, not that anyone would care if I was using a Manolo Blahnik now anyway," Cordy replied, earning a snort from Xander.
"Not even the afterlife would change you much, would it?" he replied, coming closer and giving her a one armed hug. "It's so damned good seeing you, Cor."
"The same, dweeb, the same. Anyway, I've spent too much time here already, I need to go back, - crappy PTB rules - but I need to say a couple important things, the first being a huge thank you in showing me the way towards being a better me. I have no regrets about any...actually, I do have one, and it's about letting you down back then. I forgave you, but I was a coward, I could have called and apologized, but I was afraid of what your reaction would be, what mine would be. So, what I really wanted to say is, I'm sorry, Xander. You are a wonderful man, and I should have seen the fluke for what it was, not what it seemed like," she said, grabbing him fully on one bone-crunching hug, almost feeling some of the weight on his soul lifting.
"I'm sorry too, I should have called you as well, but I dunno how I would have been received. We were a couple of boneheads, weren't we?"
She smiled. "You still are, dork, and that is the other thing I wanted to talk to you about, and this is slightly more business related. I can't be my usual self and say what I really want about it, because of your free will and my status as an agent of the Powers, but I'll be as blunt as possible. You chose a path some time ago that is about to head out to its conclusion, and you'll have a choice to make. When you're confronted with this choice, do what Bruce is trying to pound into your thick skull and think with your brain and THEN engage your heart to make a decision, okay?"
"That's...kinda vague, actually," Xander replied.
"It's the best I can do within the limits I have. I can't help you more, and if I do, I'm not going to be able to help you further down the line, but I think you'll do fine, IF you use your brain."
"I'm doomed," he said with mock seriousness.
"I agree," she smiled, seeing the humor in the reply lacking the self-recrimination it would have in the past. "I have to go, but as I said to your wife, I'll drop in from time to time."
Xander nodded, but before Cordelia could vanish, he stopped her. "Hum...Cordy? About Robin?"
"Yes?"
"Is he at a nice place?" the one-eyed man asked.
"You could say that. If he's going to stay there is his choice," she said, finally vanishing.
Xander shook his head. Strange reply, but he knew far too little about the afterlife to really understand it.
The funeral was a simple matter. Robin didn't have any real family except for the Scoobies, and using a policy he set up himself, all Council members would be cremated upon confirmed death. Not a chance of someone using their bodies for some nefarious purposes - or maybe some resurrecting. The priest said a few words that no one paid real attention to, while Faith spread his ashes over his mother's grave. She cried, while Xander held Hope in his lap, the tot playing with Diana's long tresses, quite oblivious to what was happening around her.
"I love you, Robin, and I'll miss you," the Slayer murmured.
Whiteness. All around and all encompassing. Robin looked around, and if this was the afterlife mentioned in Buffy's file, it was pretty boring. He had been here a while, but how much this 'while' had been was a mystery to him. It seemed like a few hours, but it could be longer, he had absolutely no idea.
"I agree, it's really boring," a voice said, and he whirled to look at the owner, standing on a defensive stance. "Whoa, calm down, my friend, I wish you no harm," the man said, lifting his hands in the classical non-threatening gesture. He was a redhead with a streak of white going over the entire length of his scalp, and a friendly enough smile. He was also dressed in a blue striped suit that looked a bit old fashioned.
"Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?" Robin asked.
"No asking 'what happened?'" the man asked, curiously.
"I already figured I'm either dead or in some kind of mystical limbo, or both. If I'm dead there's nothing I can do about it, if it is a mystical limbo, someone from the Council is probably already researching how to free me and kick the ass of the ones responsible," he said, by the way of a threat.
"No resurrection? They're quite capable of doing it, you know?" the stranger asked again, smiling slightly.
"Yes, and they, and I, know how well that ended up, and the mess caused because of it. No, thank you," the black man replied.
"Not even to see your daughter again? Or your wife?" the man prodded.
"I couldn't live with the consequences or the price I, and they, would pay to do so. So, I'll miss them, but I won't come back. And if they followed the procedures I created, I won't have a body to come back to anyway. Now, who are you, and why are you asking me all that?" Robin asked, growing restless all over again.
"Oh, sorry about that," the man said, sporting a smile that unnerved Robin a whole lot. "I keep forgetting about manners after all this time. When I was alive, my name was Jim Corrigan, Mr. Wood, and I'm here because I have a proposition for you. Tell me, would you like to go back to fighting the good fight?"