Part 8
"Liam... Liam, shh, no, don't... quiet, it's all - alright, just..." The tears were running down Cordy's face as she stroked his hair, kneeling beside him and trying to hold his flailing hands in her own, to stop him doing any more damage to himself. Looking at his face, she saw blood where he'd torn at his own skin in a fury.
"Monsters, all of- killing, dying, hear them scream... the faces, the little children, me, I, I, stop, stop it! Leave me... me... but, bad, punished- leave me to, to, I have to pay for... for..." He started to whimper, and Cordelia hugged him to her tightly, for fear that if she let go, she'd lose him, forever.
"You - you have nothing to, to pay for, I... Liam, I, I don't know how to help, I ca- can't do anything, shhh, I, I don't know what to do..." She had never felt so useless, so helpless in her life. As she tried to soothe the wretched man, her tears mingled with his own, her sobbing with his.
"Heben Sie einen Schleier von seinen Augen an,
Die nicht willkommene Schatten abreisen,
Wiederherstellung sein Geist also
Können es sein"
Her fragile form supporting his, Cordelia knelt, Liam clutching onto her hair as if it were his only lifeline. Through bleary eyes, he gazed into her face. "I'm... I'm sorry," he murmured, and buried his face in her neck. Cordy's face collapsed as the sobs wracked through her body - she wasn't sure if they were his, or her own. Wesley's chanting faded into the background, and she noticed Giles pouring powder in a circle around them through eyes blurred with tears.
"Durch meinen Willen
Nehmen Sie die Schwärzung von seinem Anblick,
Wiederherstellen seinen Gedanken,
Können es sein"
Giles stood by Wesley, who continued to chant, louder and louder. For the first time, Giles noticed how bloodshot the younger man's eyes were. He was gripping the book so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, and his eyes were shining unnaturally brightly - Giles didn't want to hazard a guess as to whether it was the power of the spell, or the unshed tears in the man's eyes.
Standing just behind the watchers, the whole Scooby gang looked on in increasing horror. Willow clutched Tara's hand tightly in her own; Xander had his arm slung around Anya, and Buffy and Spike stood next to each other quietly.
"Do you... do you think it's working?" Buffy asked in a timid voice.
"I... I don't know, love, magic was never one of my strengths." As he saw her expression darken, he felt a horrible pang of sympathy in the pit of his stomach. Maybe she still felt something for Angel, but still, all he wanted to do was comfort her. "But, it looks good, and the archaic German, sounds... uh, quite authentic, and-" he was very nearly winded as Buffy flung herself into his arms. In his surprise, he paused, as still as a statue, before at first awkwardly rubbing her back. And there they all stood; powerless to help, powerless to do anything other than watch.
"Löschen Sie den Schwärzungsgrad von seiner Seele,
Wahrheit ist in seinem Inneren,
Anhebt den Schleier,
Können es sein"
Wesley was distracted from his mantra as the grass surrounding Liam and Cordelia seemed to - well, it started to glow. The powder shone with growing intensity, forming a sort of fairy circle around the couple. To Giles' and Wesley's astonishment, the ring lifted from the ground, bright lights flitting, flickering, spinning round and round, with increasing velocity. All of a sudden, the lights grew blindingly bright, and burst into flame.
"My God..." Giles breathed, rooted to the spot in horror. "I don't think this was mentioned in the book..."
"Cordelia! Cordy!! Come on, leave him! Get out, before... before..." Wesley couldn't do anything but watch as the flames closed in on the seer, and the grass became charred and blackened. He suddenly regained the ability to move, and without thinking, threw himself into the circle, thinking only that he had to save at least one of his best friends. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost them both...
At least, he would have thrown himself into the circle, had the circle not promptly thrown him out again. As he hit the edge of the hoop, a massive force threw him through the air, and he catapulted backwards, straight into Giles. The two men scrambled about on the grass, until, upon seeing the blazing fire, they sat, light glinting from their glasses, eyes wide.
Cordelia and Liam were trapped in a fiery inferno. The flames were a beautiful sight, golden and tipped with lilac and blue; it was a morbid, deadly kind of radiance. Cordelia wasn't sure if she could stand the heat without screaming for much longer. The flames licked her arms as she and Liam huddled close; she could almost smell her hair start to frazzle. Liam's skin was already blistering, and there was a putrid smell of burning flesh.
Even those on the outside could feel the heat. Giles backed off a little, pulling Wesley, who seemed to be in some kind of daze, with him. As they looked on, they could see the flames engulf the couple, see Cordelia's skin turn a deep shade of red, even through the blaze. Anya could see Xander physically trying to blink back his tears, and, when he failed miserably, trying to surreptitiously wipe them away. Willow and Buffy were crying openly, and Giles was far from uneffected. The strangest thing of all, however, was Wesley's expression of stoicity. Even as the flames glinted in his eyes, he stayed incredibly still; not moving, not crying. His mind shut out the possibility that the two people most important to him in the world were gone.
Cordy clutched Liam tightly as the pain took over her body. He whimpered in her grasp, and moisture streamed down her face, making the burns sting. As she closed her eyes, a peace, a calmness took her over. All she could see was his face; her Angel's face, gazing at her with that unchanging expression, but with love in his eyes. Suddenly, the man in her arms was that Angel. She would spend her last moments with him, no matter what he was calling himself, no matter what he knew of their time together - it was still the same man, with or without two hundred odd years of life experience. It was still the man she owed her life to, many times over; still the man she...
"I love you," she whispered, holding onto him even more tightly than before. And everything went black.
Giles wondered if he'd gone blind. And then he realised - as quickly as they had erupted, the flames had melted away to nothing. Blinking rapidly, he tried to focus. The brilliance of the fire had, to some extent, blinded him, and he was having trouble regaining his vision, as were the people around him.
The silence was suddenly broken by a moan. Wesley seemed to snap out of his daze, and scrambled to his feet.
"No... no, not them, no, they can't-"
Giles grabbed him by the arm as he attempted to move towards the charred ring.
"Wesley, we don't know that it's safe! You know as little as I do about that kind of magic, and your being killed by your own stupidity is going to do nothing to bring them back!" Wes blinked at him, and Giles was shocked by his own harsh words. "I'm... sorry, but it's the truth." Giles having loosened his grip, Wes managed to break free, and all but dived into the circle, to be presented with a burnt and bloodied Cordelia.
Except that he wasn't.
His eyes adjusting to the light, Wes could see Cordelia entwined in Liam's arms, apparently sleeping peacefully. His hand shaking, Wesley placed his fingers against her neck, his mind telling him to expect the worst, but his heart feeling otherwise. In fact, he didn't know what to think. It was all incredibly confusing. For there wasn't a scratch on either of them.
Snatching his hand away, he sat back in wonder. "But that's... it's... impossible..." he whispered, backing away a little, and running a hand through his hair. As the rest of the group's eyes also adjusted, a collective gasp hung on the air, as Liam's body suddenly shifted a little.
His eyes snapped open, and darted from the group, to the sky, and down to the woman in his arms.
"Where.. where am I? What happened? Cordy? Cordy, are you hurt?" He softly shook her shoulders, and she yawned.
"Liam... Liam, you're alive, you're..." her eyes focussed on the man's furrowed brow. "Angel?"
"What's going on, Cordy? I don't remember... I do, I remember you - and, I was..." his eyes widened in disbelief. "I was... I forgot, and I.... you... love me?" Her arms still wrapped around him, and his around her, she looked up into his eyes. He could see so many emotions in hers, and she obviously wasn't sure whether to burst into tears, or scream with joy. She opted for the latter.
"Angel... oh, god, Angel! You're.. *you*, and you're back, and, oh, I missed you!" She hugged him as tightly as she could. "And... yes, I love you, dumbass, you." She smiled so widely she thought she might strain all the muscles in her face. "It's always been you. And I was just too... too blind to realise, until it was nearly too late, and..." she couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "I nearly lost you," she said in a quiet voice.
"Shh, Cordy, I'm here, I'll always be here... I love you, too. I love you." They smiled at each other, then he leant down, and gently kissed her. Pouring all of their feelings into the tender kiss, getting lost in it, only a loud coughing from the general direction of Spike pulled them out of the moment. Breaking apart, they looked over towards the main group.
"Uhmmm... hey, everyone," Angel said sheepishly, before a Wesley-shaped blur hurled himself at them.
"Woah, Wes, gotta... breathe, y'know," Cordy gasped, as Wesley uncharacteristically enveloped them in a group hug. Suddenly, he seemed to come to his senses, and jumped back.
"...Good to see you, Angel," he mumbled.
"You too, Wes, you..." his voice cut off abruptly as he saw the morning rays break across the horizon, and a violent cursing come, yet again, from the general direction of Spike. Angel took a deep breath, just because he could, and felt the air inflate his lungs. "I'm... I'm... mortal?" Cordy nodded at him, as a grin spread across his face. "I'm... human! I'm, I'm going to get old! I'll go grey, and get wrinkles, and.. and..."
"All of those things we mortals pay surgeons good money to avoid?" Cordelia asked, whilst grinning inanely.
"All of... and, and *we'll* grow old. We'll grow old... together?" he asked a little hesitantly.
"Duh," she gently chided. "What else did you expect? You're stuck with me, mister. Forever."
"Forever and a day," he smiled.
"Urgh, don't get all Hallmark with me. I don't know if I can bear it, after all this... it's been quite the trip down memory lane, hasn't it?"
"Quite the trip," he agreed. "You saved me, Cordy... without you, I wouldn't be here now... you make my life worth, well, literally living." With a glint in his eye, but a serious expression on his face, he smiled down at her. "We've got quite some time ahead of us..."
"A lifetime," she smiled.
"And every day I spend with you, it makes me love you more."
The End.
EPILOGUE
"Urgh, why do these things always end with such a cliched line?"
"Why do you always have to spoil the ending by asking that?"
"You know, in all the millenia I've had to work with you, I don't think you've ever made anyone's life as miserable as you made that pair's, and, after all that, you gave them a nauseatingly happy ending. Why?"
"Hey, there's difficult things ahead of them, you know. Battles, apocalypses, in-laws... You thought they'd get it easy? My job doesn't work that way; you of all people should know that by now. That man was never supposed to have an easy life. All the hurt and misery any one of his personas caused, he had to pay for."
"And he has? Paid, I mean?"
"...We'll see. The thing is, I'm just the hands of them up above. I do their bidding; their wish is my command, et cetera, et cetera. It's up to them what happens next. I was just told that he needed to realise the things that were constant in his life. The things that mattered the most. The people that would always be with him. And they, or she, in this case, needed to realise that, as well. So, I came up with that. Entertaining, ne c'est pas?"
"Alright, fine, but why the light show? In all the years I've come across the ritual of Shriffrin, I've never seen anything like that happen... usually, a flash and sparkle, amnesia lifted. Speak up, Fate, enlighten me."
"Again, did you really think I'd make it that simple for them? They're lucky I didn't try something like I did with that couple in Verona. These two... there was something about them, it seemed like something more elaborate would be fitting... something to test the loyalty of their friends, the strength of their relationship, her courage, their hearts. Something... interesting.
"Besides, it's not as if we get pay-per-view up here."
FIN
It's been fun :) Long, but fun. Please feed me! kaffeineaddict@hotmail.com