CHAPTER 2 - The Journey Begins
Angel's hands clutched one of Cordelia's as he sat on the bed, beside her. His eyes were nearly prying for one single move.one she never made. She had not opened her eyes ever since the horrific vision had hit her. The only thing that reassured him was the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat. It calmed him just enough so he wouldn't go over the edge and start acting and talking hastily. He lowered his eyes as the voices filled the room once more, focusing on the desperate grip he had on Cordelia's fingers.
"How long has it been?" Fred asked from the other side of the room.
"Nearly an hour and a half." Wesley judged fit to answer since Angel didn't seem to be listening anymore.
Fred, Wesley, Gunn and Lorne stood at the foot of the bed, looking in on Cordelia's unconscious form. Lorne seemed slightly scared, while Wesley came across as unusually agitated.
"I don't understand. This should not have happened." Wesley mumbled in shock as he paced the floor. "I thought Cordy claimed that her visions were painless now."
"They are." Angel responded through clenched teeth. "They usually are."
"Then this isn't the work of those mighty Powers." Lorne concluded, breaking his long silence. "Of course, I'm assuming this has never happened before." He raised an eyebrow.
"It definitely hasn't." A worried Fred informed him.
"It wouldn't make any sense for the Powers to send Cordelia such a vision and not let her wake up to tell Angel cakes about it. It defeats the whole purpose of this process." Lorne added, brewing some thoughts of his own. "They wouldn't do that. It's not how they work, especially with you two." He continued, addressing Angel now. "Considering how close you two have gotten in the past month or so," he said in a pensive tone.
"What do you mean?" Gunn frowned as he and Wesley noticed how Fred elbowed Lorne dramatically.
"Beyond the point." Lorne stated, realizing his little slip.
Angel had not taken his eyes off of Cordelia. He couldn't. He wasn't even paying attention to anything that happened around him.at least not enough to respond to it. All he cared about was finding a way to wake her up from that forced unconsciousness.
"How do we bring her back?" Angel demanded, his emotions audible in the sharp tone of his voice.
"The first question we should be asking ourselves is 'where'. We need to know where she is in order to find a way to bring her back." Wesley argued, his nose rummaging through an ancient book.
"I don't have time for this Wesley." Angel whispered back, obviously feeling like he was running out of time. "I don't have time for fancy research. We need to bring her back!" he emphasized.
All the others fell silent, while Fred and Lorne exchanged a knowing glance.
"You need to calm down and think rationally." The ex-watcher advised, getting up from his chair.
"I will not calm down.not until we have her here and safe." he muttered through his teeth.
"I understand how you would do anything for Cordelia, like you did in Pylea, but now is not the time to let your judgment be clouded by emotions Angel. We can't go blindly into this." Wesley began in an authoritarian voice.
"My judgment is perfectly fine!" Angel frustratingly shot back, raising his voice.
Fred immediately came between the two guys when she felt the conversation was getting out of hand - not to mention going nowhere.
"Okay guys." she sighed.
Angel had not moved from his chair, nor had he let go of Cordelia's motionless hand. Wesley took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a tired hand.
"If Cordy was awake, she'd slap you both. And we've all seen what a right hook she has when she puts her heart into it." Fred stated. "We're all worried here, so let's not say things we could regret, and let's just concentrate on finding out what's going on and how to rectify it. Yes, we need to know what is happening first, but yes again, we need to find it quick.very quick." she added before taking a deep breath.
"I totally agree." Gunn finally spoke, wrapping an arm around Fred's shoulders.
"Have I mentioned how I like her?" Lorne said in amazement from the side.
They all looked at one another for a few seconds. Right as Wesley was about to apologize for his rationality, the attention swerved back to Cordelia again, whose nose began bleeding all of a sudden. Angel got up and grabbed a t-shirt from one of Cordy's dressers and used it to wipe the blood from her nose, all the while being careful not to touch her skull. IF there was one thing that he had figured out was that whatever was happening, it involved Cordy's head, which appeared untouchable at the moment.
Angel sat on the bed beside her as a small tear welled up in his eyes.
"I'm going to get you out of there." he whispered to her. "I promise." he said in an emotion-filled voice.
"Angel." Wesley said in a compassionate tone.
"We need to find a way to wake her up." Angel's eyes were pleading. Begging.
"You can't." a voice rang from the doorway.
The whole room fell silent, as all eyes turned to the familiar voice. Angel's eyes locked with the person standing at the entrance of Cordelia's bedroom.
Emily.
Angel knew that if she has been sent down here, something must be awfully wrong. A sense of panic invaded him.
"You can't wake her up." Emily regretfully informed them. "She's trapped in there."
--
Cordelia managed to lift herself up from the watery floor, shifting her weight from her hands to her knees. Her clothes were getting wet and if not for her fright, she would have remembered to shiver. She pulled herself up to her feet.
The place seemed to spin around for a moment, her surroundings being a simple blur. She quickly brought her hand to her nose and wiped some blood away from her face. Once her eyes finally got accustomed to the darkness, she noticed how creepy and cold the place way. She called out for Angel a couple of times but a long silence is all she got as an answer. The place looked like some sort of cave and she noticed three separate tunnels in front of her, each leading into more darkness and more unknown. Cordy hesitated for a while, pondering her options. Holding her breath, she glared from one tunnel to the other.
"Why do these things always happen to me.?" she muttered to herself as she headed into the middle one.
--
"She's trapped inside the vision?! But, how is that possible.?" Gunn asked Emily.
"Not inside the vision." She responded, never leaving Angel out of her sight. "Inside her own head." She continued as they all looked at her a bit confused, but mostly, very concerned.
Emily was standing in front of her, her long dark hair falling gracefully on her shoulders, her brown eyes fixated on Angel and Cordelia, and her voice ever so wise and knowing. She looked like any normal 17-year-old, but she sounded more like their conscience. Like their Angel. Like their guide.
As soon as the words left Emily's mouth, objects from Cordy's dressers and nightstand - pictures, clothes, lamps, drawers, the phone - began crashing to the floor.
"What the hell." Gunn mouthed to himself as they all watched, horrified.
"Dennis??" Angel called out and the smashing of Cordelia's belongings stopped.
They all watched as a big black marker was lifted into the air by the overly agitated ghost. He brought the pen to the door and began writing on it. The first word spelled out VENGENCE.
"Whose vengeance?" Angel demanded and the marker began moving again.
SHE'S BACK
He wrote it in big, bold letters so that everyone could see. They all stared until Emily spoke up to Dennis.
"It's okay, Dennis.Everything's going to be okay." her voice tried to be as reassuring as she could at this point.
"Who's back?" Fred asked, a little confused.
MOTHER
Fred looked even more out of the loop but Gunn and Wesley shot her a look that said they'd explain later. Angel's eyes began demanding as the little information he now had settled in.
"The Powers sent me because they have unsuccessfully been trying to warn you - as Dennis did - about what was going to happen. It seems that Cordelia's previous not-so-friendly roommate escaped from the demon prison in which she'd been sent." Emily began explaining.
"She's a demon?" Wesley frowned.
"She's no Casper." Emily pointed out. "Believe me, I know."
"What did she do to Cordy?" Angel asked, his eyes riveted on the young ghostly messenger he had come to care about.
"She's trapped Cordy inside her own head. She broke into Cordy's mind and locked Cordelia in there with her." Emily finally told them. "Remember that guy who hacked into her head once and sent her those fake visions once?" Angel nodded. "Well, this time, it's the opposite. The demon doesn't send things into Cordy's head.she pulls them in and locks them there."
"Why?" Fred could not help but ask.
Emily found herself pondering that question for a moment.
"Because it's a game." Emily painfully informed them. "At least to her. She makes Cordy a prisoner in her own mind..and if Cordy can't find the way out..she loses." She whispered, glancing at Cordelia's body on the bed.
"How do we get her out?!?" Angel asked in a demanding and frighteningly controlled tone. "Emily." he pleaded, taking a step towards her.
"You can't." Emily whispered. "Unless you go in there with her."
--
Cordelia stood at a crossroad with a choice of two different tunnels. Taking a deep breath, she shrugged and began heading in the one at her left.
"I swear when I wake up from this nightmare I am going to kick." she began as she hesitantly walked into the tunnel.
She stopped mid-sentence when she arrived in a large treasure room.
All around her, hanging on the humid walls, were framed pictures of what appeared to be legendary demons. Some of them she vividly remembered Angel killing as well. The place nearly looked like a shrine, or so she thought. The round room bathed in semi-darkness and Cordelia forced herself to survey the place until her eyes fell upon somebody standing in the middle of the room.
The stranger wore a black monk outfit that hid most of her face very well.
"I've been expecting you Cordelia." The deep throaty voice claimed.
Cordy gasped, trying to remain calm. Or at least pretend to be somewhat calmer than she actually felt.
"Funny." she nervously breathed out. "'Cause I wasn't expecting you." she added.
Just as she spoke, her attention shifted to the paintings surrounding her. One by one, she felt as if they wavered, danced.moved. They slowly began moving on their own, making the paint crack a little. Cordelia jumped when an arm jolted out of one of the paintings, and much to her own growing panic, the frightening movement was repeated with practically all paintings. Cordy's heart began racing as she stood, frozen, staring as the demons in the paintings suddenly became alive. All too fleshy for her own taste. All too real for her own safety.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when one of the demons jumped out of his painting entirely - a motion that was followed by dozens of other beasts.
"Now [b]that[/b] could be more than a problem." she muttered to herself, staring at the scene around her. "Okay." she then began in a tone which failed at its attempt to remain calm. "I have no idea where we are or how I got here for that matter.or what's going on." she blurted out, obvious fear betraying her voice. "But I obviously did not mean to interrupt.whatever.this.whatever this gathering is..so.."she managed to say, taking a few steps backwards. "I'll just be on my way out."
"Oh, I don't think so." The dark stranger laughed, snapping her fingers.
Two gigantic demons violently grabbed Cordy by the arms, holding her still. She tried to free herself but their grip was firm, strong and savage. She found herself hurting more as she attempted to fight them off. They forcefully restrained her as she breathlessly stared at the mysterious monk look alike in front of her.
"See." the voice informed a now panicked and sweaty Cordelia. "There is no way out."
--
"Are you sure about this." Lorne asked from his chair in the corner.
"There's no time to think. I'm not going to let her die." Angel argued, getting up from the bed for the first time in the last hour or so.
"We don't even know how to get in there." Lorne reminded him cautiously.
Emily inhaled deeply and looked at the two of them straight in the eyes.
"I do." She confessed.
Somehow relieved by that statement, Angel moved towards her. He had not taken one step yet that Emily knew exactly what he was about to say next.
"Alright, then let's go." He hurriedly spoke.
"Angel." Fred gently pitched in, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"We're wasting time here! We can't afford to play with Cordy's life like that.Let's go!" he exclaimed, obviously desperate to do anything to bring Cordelia back to consciousness.
No matter the risk or the impossibility that stared him in the face.
"Angel." Emily said, a grave expression on her face. "There are some things in there that you may not want to see." She whispered to him in an emotional statement. The questioning look on their faces prompted her to expand on that last information. "Everything she thinks.everything about her is in her head. All the things she fears; all the things she loves." she added, her voice growing more caring and worried with each syllable. "All the things she's seen or felt or lived. It's all imprinted in her mind, Angel. Her hopes, her joys, her tears and her laughs. All her pain and her memories. All the things that make her stronger than she even allows herself to believe, and all those which make her weak and vulnerable. All the stuff she wishes she could forget." Emily looked into Angel's worried eyes. "All the things she would never tell anybody.. The good and the bad.and the buried." she added as they all listened in silence. "Every second she has ever lived - whether she wants to remember or not - is in there." She paused for a moment and swallowed back her own bubbling emotions. "Some of these things you may not be prepared to see."
Angel swallowed the lump he felt deep inside his throat and just looked at her.
"And I know that you don't care, and that you're going to go in there anyway.and I don't even want to stop you." Emily confessed, obviously worried herself. "Because I want you to bring her back." she hid the small tear in her eye. "I just want you to be aware of what awaits you in there." She whispered. "Cordy's a lot more than witty comebacks and sarcasm. There is more to her that you may not know about. I just want you to be prepared."
"I am." Angel finally assured her in a soft, understanding tone.
Emily nodded, knowing by the look on his face that he, indeed, was aware. Fred cautiously broke the silence that followed.
"You're not going alone then." She stated, stepping beside Angel. "I'm going too." she saw that he was about to protest so she did not leave him time to speak. "I care about Cordelia too, and I'm not going to sit here and do nothing." she seemed intent and determined. "I'm going too Angel."
"So am I." Wesley and Gunn both said at the same time
Fred gave Lorne an inquiring look as he paused and looked at them intently.
"Hey," he said, joining them. "Whatever it takes to bring Princess back."
Not knowing what they'd face, what they'd see or encounter, they all chose to go. Not knowing if they'd ever come back, they were all determined on going.
Angel turned to Emily again.
"Are you coming too?" Angel asked an unusually quiet Emily.
A sad look spread across the young angel's face.
"I can't." she answered, almost dreadfully. "I physically can't." she emphasized as a regretful expression clouded her eyes. "Besides.I may already be in there.who knows." she then proceeded to tell them.
"So how do we bring her back?" Gunn asked her.
Emily glanced at all of them one by one and it pained her to have to answer.
"I don't know." she confessed, calmly. "You'll have to find that out once you're in there." she told them, wishing she had more information to guide them through. "It's like a video game in there, except there's no reset button or extra lives growing out of yellow shrimps.It's like a system virus you need to destroy."
"How do we destroy her?" Angel asked.
"By beating her at her own game." Emily told him. "You just need to find the way out, that's all."
"What happens if we don't?" Angel inquired despite himself.
Emily paused, her eyes growing fearful under his stare. The young girl took a deep breath and held his stare with surprising assurance. But it wasn't enough to mask her impending sadness over the answer she was about to give him.
"If she dies while you're in there.you're not coming back." She reluctantly answered, prompting a long pause amidst the conversation. "If you're not prepared to take that risk, then don't go."
"What about us? What happens if one of us dies in there?" Lorne questioned.
Emily couldn't answer that. She didn't own the answer to that question.
"I don't know that either." she regretfully offered. "You'll just have to try not to." She whispered, cautiously.
"Sorry I asked." Lorne berated himself.
"All I know is that your only way out will be Cordy. She gets out; you're all getting out." Emily continued and then paused momentarily. "She dies.you all die with her."
"We'll bring her back. We have to." Angel said, taking an unnecessary breath as he and Emily shared a compassionate glance.
On that note, they all gathered around Cordelia's bed. Getting ready for the very demanding process, Emily asked them all to hold hands, adding the importance of "not letting go" if they wanted to end up at the same place. Emily closed her eyes, grabbed one of Angel's hands simultaneously touching Cordelia's forehead, and concentrated. An electrifying flash of light shot through her, draining the young ghost of all her energy. After a few seconds of that painful process, Emily fell to the ground helplessly.
--
Angel, Wesley, Fred, Gunn and Lorne hit the grass underneath them violently. A tiny groan escaped Angel's throat as his head hit the ground.
They all looked up and found themselves staring at their surroundings. They were lying on the grass in what appeared to be a large forest at night. The moon was blood red, the air rather cool and the atmosphere strangely cryptic.
Angel got up to his feet, surveying the horizon. The others followed his lead, in dreadful silence, until a bird's cry startled Fred. She nearly jumped out of her skin, grabbing Lorne's jacket with both hands. Gunn patted the bottom of his pants while Wesley stared at the millions of trees surrounding them. The entire forest bathed in a darkness and sense of doom that did not fail to leave them vulnerable. It was cold.
It was dark.
It was.unfamiliar.
They began to take a few steps forward when they all stopped.
Angel frowned when he saw something moving in the shadows, unable to depict what it was. They all just stared into the night.
"And she said [I]you[/I] needed some colors.?" Fred them mumbled to Angel as she looked around from behind his shoulder.
Angel's hands clutched one of Cordelia's as he sat on the bed, beside her. His eyes were nearly prying for one single move.one she never made. She had not opened her eyes ever since the horrific vision had hit her. The only thing that reassured him was the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat. It calmed him just enough so he wouldn't go over the edge and start acting and talking hastily. He lowered his eyes as the voices filled the room once more, focusing on the desperate grip he had on Cordelia's fingers.
"How long has it been?" Fred asked from the other side of the room.
"Nearly an hour and a half." Wesley judged fit to answer since Angel didn't seem to be listening anymore.
Fred, Wesley, Gunn and Lorne stood at the foot of the bed, looking in on Cordelia's unconscious form. Lorne seemed slightly scared, while Wesley came across as unusually agitated.
"I don't understand. This should not have happened." Wesley mumbled in shock as he paced the floor. "I thought Cordy claimed that her visions were painless now."
"They are." Angel responded through clenched teeth. "They usually are."
"Then this isn't the work of those mighty Powers." Lorne concluded, breaking his long silence. "Of course, I'm assuming this has never happened before." He raised an eyebrow.
"It definitely hasn't." A worried Fred informed him.
"It wouldn't make any sense for the Powers to send Cordelia such a vision and not let her wake up to tell Angel cakes about it. It defeats the whole purpose of this process." Lorne added, brewing some thoughts of his own. "They wouldn't do that. It's not how they work, especially with you two." He continued, addressing Angel now. "Considering how close you two have gotten in the past month or so," he said in a pensive tone.
"What do you mean?" Gunn frowned as he and Wesley noticed how Fred elbowed Lorne dramatically.
"Beyond the point." Lorne stated, realizing his little slip.
Angel had not taken his eyes off of Cordelia. He couldn't. He wasn't even paying attention to anything that happened around him.at least not enough to respond to it. All he cared about was finding a way to wake her up from that forced unconsciousness.
"How do we bring her back?" Angel demanded, his emotions audible in the sharp tone of his voice.
"The first question we should be asking ourselves is 'where'. We need to know where she is in order to find a way to bring her back." Wesley argued, his nose rummaging through an ancient book.
"I don't have time for this Wesley." Angel whispered back, obviously feeling like he was running out of time. "I don't have time for fancy research. We need to bring her back!" he emphasized.
All the others fell silent, while Fred and Lorne exchanged a knowing glance.
"You need to calm down and think rationally." The ex-watcher advised, getting up from his chair.
"I will not calm down.not until we have her here and safe." he muttered through his teeth.
"I understand how you would do anything for Cordelia, like you did in Pylea, but now is not the time to let your judgment be clouded by emotions Angel. We can't go blindly into this." Wesley began in an authoritarian voice.
"My judgment is perfectly fine!" Angel frustratingly shot back, raising his voice.
Fred immediately came between the two guys when she felt the conversation was getting out of hand - not to mention going nowhere.
"Okay guys." she sighed.
Angel had not moved from his chair, nor had he let go of Cordelia's motionless hand. Wesley took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a tired hand.
"If Cordy was awake, she'd slap you both. And we've all seen what a right hook she has when she puts her heart into it." Fred stated. "We're all worried here, so let's not say things we could regret, and let's just concentrate on finding out what's going on and how to rectify it. Yes, we need to know what is happening first, but yes again, we need to find it quick.very quick." she added before taking a deep breath.
"I totally agree." Gunn finally spoke, wrapping an arm around Fred's shoulders.
"Have I mentioned how I like her?" Lorne said in amazement from the side.
They all looked at one another for a few seconds. Right as Wesley was about to apologize for his rationality, the attention swerved back to Cordelia again, whose nose began bleeding all of a sudden. Angel got up and grabbed a t-shirt from one of Cordy's dressers and used it to wipe the blood from her nose, all the while being careful not to touch her skull. IF there was one thing that he had figured out was that whatever was happening, it involved Cordy's head, which appeared untouchable at the moment.
Angel sat on the bed beside her as a small tear welled up in his eyes.
"I'm going to get you out of there." he whispered to her. "I promise." he said in an emotion-filled voice.
"Angel." Wesley said in a compassionate tone.
"We need to find a way to wake her up." Angel's eyes were pleading. Begging.
"You can't." a voice rang from the doorway.
The whole room fell silent, as all eyes turned to the familiar voice. Angel's eyes locked with the person standing at the entrance of Cordelia's bedroom.
Emily.
Angel knew that if she has been sent down here, something must be awfully wrong. A sense of panic invaded him.
"You can't wake her up." Emily regretfully informed them. "She's trapped in there."
--
Cordelia managed to lift herself up from the watery floor, shifting her weight from her hands to her knees. Her clothes were getting wet and if not for her fright, she would have remembered to shiver. She pulled herself up to her feet.
The place seemed to spin around for a moment, her surroundings being a simple blur. She quickly brought her hand to her nose and wiped some blood away from her face. Once her eyes finally got accustomed to the darkness, she noticed how creepy and cold the place way. She called out for Angel a couple of times but a long silence is all she got as an answer. The place looked like some sort of cave and she noticed three separate tunnels in front of her, each leading into more darkness and more unknown. Cordy hesitated for a while, pondering her options. Holding her breath, she glared from one tunnel to the other.
"Why do these things always happen to me.?" she muttered to herself as she headed into the middle one.
--
"She's trapped inside the vision?! But, how is that possible.?" Gunn asked Emily.
"Not inside the vision." She responded, never leaving Angel out of her sight. "Inside her own head." She continued as they all looked at her a bit confused, but mostly, very concerned.
Emily was standing in front of her, her long dark hair falling gracefully on her shoulders, her brown eyes fixated on Angel and Cordelia, and her voice ever so wise and knowing. She looked like any normal 17-year-old, but she sounded more like their conscience. Like their Angel. Like their guide.
As soon as the words left Emily's mouth, objects from Cordy's dressers and nightstand - pictures, clothes, lamps, drawers, the phone - began crashing to the floor.
"What the hell." Gunn mouthed to himself as they all watched, horrified.
"Dennis??" Angel called out and the smashing of Cordelia's belongings stopped.
They all watched as a big black marker was lifted into the air by the overly agitated ghost. He brought the pen to the door and began writing on it. The first word spelled out VENGENCE.
"Whose vengeance?" Angel demanded and the marker began moving again.
SHE'S BACK
He wrote it in big, bold letters so that everyone could see. They all stared until Emily spoke up to Dennis.
"It's okay, Dennis.Everything's going to be okay." her voice tried to be as reassuring as she could at this point.
"Who's back?" Fred asked, a little confused.
MOTHER
Fred looked even more out of the loop but Gunn and Wesley shot her a look that said they'd explain later. Angel's eyes began demanding as the little information he now had settled in.
"The Powers sent me because they have unsuccessfully been trying to warn you - as Dennis did - about what was going to happen. It seems that Cordelia's previous not-so-friendly roommate escaped from the demon prison in which she'd been sent." Emily began explaining.
"She's a demon?" Wesley frowned.
"She's no Casper." Emily pointed out. "Believe me, I know."
"What did she do to Cordy?" Angel asked, his eyes riveted on the young ghostly messenger he had come to care about.
"She's trapped Cordy inside her own head. She broke into Cordy's mind and locked Cordelia in there with her." Emily finally told them. "Remember that guy who hacked into her head once and sent her those fake visions once?" Angel nodded. "Well, this time, it's the opposite. The demon doesn't send things into Cordy's head.she pulls them in and locks them there."
"Why?" Fred could not help but ask.
Emily found herself pondering that question for a moment.
"Because it's a game." Emily painfully informed them. "At least to her. She makes Cordy a prisoner in her own mind..and if Cordy can't find the way out..she loses." She whispered, glancing at Cordelia's body on the bed.
"How do we get her out?!?" Angel asked in a demanding and frighteningly controlled tone. "Emily." he pleaded, taking a step towards her.
"You can't." Emily whispered. "Unless you go in there with her."
--
Cordelia stood at a crossroad with a choice of two different tunnels. Taking a deep breath, she shrugged and began heading in the one at her left.
"I swear when I wake up from this nightmare I am going to kick." she began as she hesitantly walked into the tunnel.
She stopped mid-sentence when she arrived in a large treasure room.
All around her, hanging on the humid walls, were framed pictures of what appeared to be legendary demons. Some of them she vividly remembered Angel killing as well. The place nearly looked like a shrine, or so she thought. The round room bathed in semi-darkness and Cordelia forced herself to survey the place until her eyes fell upon somebody standing in the middle of the room.
The stranger wore a black monk outfit that hid most of her face very well.
"I've been expecting you Cordelia." The deep throaty voice claimed.
Cordy gasped, trying to remain calm. Or at least pretend to be somewhat calmer than she actually felt.
"Funny." she nervously breathed out. "'Cause I wasn't expecting you." she added.
Just as she spoke, her attention shifted to the paintings surrounding her. One by one, she felt as if they wavered, danced.moved. They slowly began moving on their own, making the paint crack a little. Cordelia jumped when an arm jolted out of one of the paintings, and much to her own growing panic, the frightening movement was repeated with practically all paintings. Cordy's heart began racing as she stood, frozen, staring as the demons in the paintings suddenly became alive. All too fleshy for her own taste. All too real for her own safety.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when one of the demons jumped out of his painting entirely - a motion that was followed by dozens of other beasts.
"Now [b]that[/b] could be more than a problem." she muttered to herself, staring at the scene around her. "Okay." she then began in a tone which failed at its attempt to remain calm. "I have no idea where we are or how I got here for that matter.or what's going on." she blurted out, obvious fear betraying her voice. "But I obviously did not mean to interrupt.whatever.this.whatever this gathering is..so.."she managed to say, taking a few steps backwards. "I'll just be on my way out."
"Oh, I don't think so." The dark stranger laughed, snapping her fingers.
Two gigantic demons violently grabbed Cordy by the arms, holding her still. She tried to free herself but their grip was firm, strong and savage. She found herself hurting more as she attempted to fight them off. They forcefully restrained her as she breathlessly stared at the mysterious monk look alike in front of her.
"See." the voice informed a now panicked and sweaty Cordelia. "There is no way out."
--
"Are you sure about this." Lorne asked from his chair in the corner.
"There's no time to think. I'm not going to let her die." Angel argued, getting up from the bed for the first time in the last hour or so.
"We don't even know how to get in there." Lorne reminded him cautiously.
Emily inhaled deeply and looked at the two of them straight in the eyes.
"I do." She confessed.
Somehow relieved by that statement, Angel moved towards her. He had not taken one step yet that Emily knew exactly what he was about to say next.
"Alright, then let's go." He hurriedly spoke.
"Angel." Fred gently pitched in, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"We're wasting time here! We can't afford to play with Cordy's life like that.Let's go!" he exclaimed, obviously desperate to do anything to bring Cordelia back to consciousness.
No matter the risk or the impossibility that stared him in the face.
"Angel." Emily said, a grave expression on her face. "There are some things in there that you may not want to see." She whispered to him in an emotional statement. The questioning look on their faces prompted her to expand on that last information. "Everything she thinks.everything about her is in her head. All the things she fears; all the things she loves." she added, her voice growing more caring and worried with each syllable. "All the things she's seen or felt or lived. It's all imprinted in her mind, Angel. Her hopes, her joys, her tears and her laughs. All her pain and her memories. All the things that make her stronger than she even allows herself to believe, and all those which make her weak and vulnerable. All the stuff she wishes she could forget." Emily looked into Angel's worried eyes. "All the things she would never tell anybody.. The good and the bad.and the buried." she added as they all listened in silence. "Every second she has ever lived - whether she wants to remember or not - is in there." She paused for a moment and swallowed back her own bubbling emotions. "Some of these things you may not be prepared to see."
Angel swallowed the lump he felt deep inside his throat and just looked at her.
"And I know that you don't care, and that you're going to go in there anyway.and I don't even want to stop you." Emily confessed, obviously worried herself. "Because I want you to bring her back." she hid the small tear in her eye. "I just want you to be aware of what awaits you in there." She whispered. "Cordy's a lot more than witty comebacks and sarcasm. There is more to her that you may not know about. I just want you to be prepared."
"I am." Angel finally assured her in a soft, understanding tone.
Emily nodded, knowing by the look on his face that he, indeed, was aware. Fred cautiously broke the silence that followed.
"You're not going alone then." She stated, stepping beside Angel. "I'm going too." she saw that he was about to protest so she did not leave him time to speak. "I care about Cordelia too, and I'm not going to sit here and do nothing." she seemed intent and determined. "I'm going too Angel."
"So am I." Wesley and Gunn both said at the same time
Fred gave Lorne an inquiring look as he paused and looked at them intently.
"Hey," he said, joining them. "Whatever it takes to bring Princess back."
Not knowing what they'd face, what they'd see or encounter, they all chose to go. Not knowing if they'd ever come back, they were all determined on going.
Angel turned to Emily again.
"Are you coming too?" Angel asked an unusually quiet Emily.
A sad look spread across the young angel's face.
"I can't." she answered, almost dreadfully. "I physically can't." she emphasized as a regretful expression clouded her eyes. "Besides.I may already be in there.who knows." she then proceeded to tell them.
"So how do we bring her back?" Gunn asked her.
Emily glanced at all of them one by one and it pained her to have to answer.
"I don't know." she confessed, calmly. "You'll have to find that out once you're in there." she told them, wishing she had more information to guide them through. "It's like a video game in there, except there's no reset button or extra lives growing out of yellow shrimps.It's like a system virus you need to destroy."
"How do we destroy her?" Angel asked.
"By beating her at her own game." Emily told him. "You just need to find the way out, that's all."
"What happens if we don't?" Angel inquired despite himself.
Emily paused, her eyes growing fearful under his stare. The young girl took a deep breath and held his stare with surprising assurance. But it wasn't enough to mask her impending sadness over the answer she was about to give him.
"If she dies while you're in there.you're not coming back." She reluctantly answered, prompting a long pause amidst the conversation. "If you're not prepared to take that risk, then don't go."
"What about us? What happens if one of us dies in there?" Lorne questioned.
Emily couldn't answer that. She didn't own the answer to that question.
"I don't know that either." she regretfully offered. "You'll just have to try not to." She whispered, cautiously.
"Sorry I asked." Lorne berated himself.
"All I know is that your only way out will be Cordy. She gets out; you're all getting out." Emily continued and then paused momentarily. "She dies.you all die with her."
"We'll bring her back. We have to." Angel said, taking an unnecessary breath as he and Emily shared a compassionate glance.
On that note, they all gathered around Cordelia's bed. Getting ready for the very demanding process, Emily asked them all to hold hands, adding the importance of "not letting go" if they wanted to end up at the same place. Emily closed her eyes, grabbed one of Angel's hands simultaneously touching Cordelia's forehead, and concentrated. An electrifying flash of light shot through her, draining the young ghost of all her energy. After a few seconds of that painful process, Emily fell to the ground helplessly.
--
Angel, Wesley, Fred, Gunn and Lorne hit the grass underneath them violently. A tiny groan escaped Angel's throat as his head hit the ground.
They all looked up and found themselves staring at their surroundings. They were lying on the grass in what appeared to be a large forest at night. The moon was blood red, the air rather cool and the atmosphere strangely cryptic.
Angel got up to his feet, surveying the horizon. The others followed his lead, in dreadful silence, until a bird's cry startled Fred. She nearly jumped out of her skin, grabbing Lorne's jacket with both hands. Gunn patted the bottom of his pants while Wesley stared at the millions of trees surrounding them. The entire forest bathed in a darkness and sense of doom that did not fail to leave them vulnerable. It was cold.
It was dark.
It was.unfamiliar.
They began to take a few steps forward when they all stopped.
Angel frowned when he saw something moving in the shadows, unable to depict what it was. They all just stared into the night.
"And she said [I]you[/I] needed some colors.?" Fred them mumbled to Angel as she looked around from behind his shoulder.