CHAPTER 4 - Lorne Of The Rings
Cordelia rushed through the corridors, following the familiar female scream. She tried to force practically every door on her way but none of them led to the person in agony that she could so vividly hear. Her feet splashed in the water in a rhythm that synchronized with her increasingly rapid heartbeat.
She heard it again.
A scream of fear.
A scream of torture.
The sound quickly led her to an enormous door with no window. She tried to open the door but it was clearly locked from the inside. With quick breaths, she began to try to kick the door open, but unsuccessfully. She was too busy trying to break in to notice that the screams had stop, only to leave an intense silence on the other side of the room.
Cordelia turned around, quickly surveying her surroundings. Her eyes landed on a large sword hanging on the wall nearby. She jumped and grabbed it in a feverish move and headed back towards the door. A couple of sharp, methodical swing is all it took to break the lock and cut the doorknob entirely. Cordelia dropped the sword to the ground as she pushed the door open.
She barely took the time to take note of her surroundings - a large room divided by a metallic cage-like wall - before her eyes landed on the object of such previous agony. Cordelia's eyes welled up with tears and she held her breath for a moment, taking in the painful sight that stood before her.
"Oh my God." she muttered to herself as she threw herself towards the cage wall. "Emily." she said, still in shock but painfully aware that she couldn't' allow herself to stay that way for very long.
If the cries of pain she'd heard before were any indication, the situation could get ugly.and fast.
Cordy shook the cage wall with both of her hands, trying to get in, but she couldn't.
Inside, Emily lied in an exhausted state of mind on a small white bed, straps firmly holding her hands on each side of her head. Her eyes swam in a shallow, confused state of emptiness. Small tears hid behind the stare she shot at the ceiling, while drops of blood rolled down the side of her face from the knife cuts on her right cheek.
"Oh God.Emily??" Cordelia let out, her face entirely covered with a sudden sadness.
Emily's fists were clenched, as if she had been busy trying to free herself, but in vain. Her jaw was solidly clenched as well, and Cordelia noticed a very disturbing and uncharacteristic anger in Emily's eyes. Yet, the young girl would not turn to look at her cousin, who stood on the other side of her room-sized cage.
"Emily.look at me.Emily?!" Cordelia begged of her cousin, as she desperately clung to the grillage.
"Go away." Emily finally spoke in a choked, pained voice that came off as a blend between a plea and an order.
Cordelia simply stared in shock through the little square holes, taken aback by her cousin's response. Never had she seen Emily in such a state. Then, Cordy's eyes fell to the floor beside the bed on which Emily was tied up, and that's when it dawned upon her. There, on the ground, rested an empty needle, with which Cordelia assumed Emily had been injected.
"No.Emily.look at me damnit! I'm not leaving you here." Cordelia said with the determination of a ten-men army.
"Get out of here..Cordy." Emily breathed out in a faint tone that was filled with fear.
"Emily." Cordelia argued, forcefully trying to break the cage wall with her hands.
"Get away!" Emily shouted in a sudden burst of energy as she got agitated and pulled on her arms to break the straps, but without any success. "Get away from me.it's a trap." she warned an emotional Cordelia as she finally tilted her head enough to look at her.
Emily's eyes were drowning in tears and desperate fears when Cordelia found her stare.
"I can't leave you here." Cordelia whispered, forcing down the moral battle that had begun inside her head.
"Yes you can." Emily whispered back through her teeth, urgently trying to convince Cordelia. "They're gonna kill you.." Emily added in a hushed and anxious tone.
"Emily." Cordelia pleaded, unable to make herself leave.
Her eyes were riveted on the beaten young girl lying on the bed, and nothing inside of her would let her leave. This was a trap. It was a trap. Emily would not be warning her of such if it wasn't. But, as she stared at the very much alive version of her cousin, her heart sunk lower than the deepest sea and she found herself unable to just run away.
A loud noise was heard from outside the room, which prompted Cordelia to shoot a look over her shoulder and Emily to battle against her weakened state and try to free herself once more.
"Get out Cordy.Get out while you still can!" Emily cried out as two large, buff demons burst into the room, holding weapons and a strait jacket.
"Emily." Cordelia managed to let out just before the two immensely strong demons grabbed her by the arms and forced the straight jacket onto her.
Cordelia kicked and screamed as they brutally strapped the jacket on her, hitting her if necessary and shouting at her to shut up.
"Cordy!!" Emily shouted in vain as she watched the beasts hunt down her cousin.
Cordelia fell to her knees, outrageously trying to free her arms but it was too late. The straight jacket was immobilizing her whole upper body. When she tried to kick one of the acne-prone demons, the other punched her on the face and she fell to the ground, unable to get up on her own. They then grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up savagely. Blinded by the wet hair that now fell on her face, Cordelia still managed to catch a glimpse of a panicked Emily on the other side of the cage.
One of the guys took a syringe out and stuck it in Cordelia's neck, making her cringe momentarily. IT didn't take much time for the sedative to begin to have its desired effect on Cordelia and she quickly weakened.
"Let go of me!" Cordy spitted out as the forcefully dragged her out of the room. "Emily.!!!!" she shouted as they yanked her out of the doorway, with tremendous strength.
A painfully stricken Emily fought against the straps that held her onto the bed but was unable to do anything to help her cousin. She closed her eyes as she felt a throbbing in her arms. Emily prayed a silent prayer to herself.
"Angel, where are you.?" she whispered in a weak murmur.
--
Angel and Wesley found themselves in a dark corridor that reminded them of the caves in Pylea.
"This is unexpectedly sinister." Wesley remarked as he and Angel carefully began their journey through the multitude of corridors.
"This isn't Cordelia," Angel mumbled, as if he needed to remind himself of that fact. "At least not entirely."
Both men kept strolling through the cave-like passages, and it didn't take them long to notice the constant water beneath their feet.
"What do you think this is all about?" Wesley inquired while Angel bent down and dipped the tip of his fingers in the cold water.
"I don't know." he simply answered in a pensive tone. "But there seems to be water everywhere." He added, looking up at the dark corridor. "I have a bad feeling about this Wesley. We need to find her, and fast." He muttered in a dire need to hide his panic.
Still curious about the abundance of water imagery that haunted Cordy's head, the two made their way to the end of the corridor and passed some sort of threshold.
"Angel, wait.maybe we shouldn't go in there. We don't know what could be there. We're unprepared." Wesley rambled on a little, but Angel dismissed his reluctance.
"Cordy might be in there." he insisted. "Whatever is behind each and every one of those doors, we'll be unprepared for it."
"What makes you so sure?" Wesley inquired. "After all, we do know Cordelia."
"We know what she wants us to know." Angel said as he turned to face Wesley. "We know what she lets us know. Here...she has no control over what we stumble upon, and if Dennis' mother has anything to do with it, we'll only stumble upon the worse." he informed the former watcher, perfectly knowing he wasn't giving out any new information on the whole situation.
On these words, Angel and Wesley walked through the threshold and stood in the doorway. Angel swallowed hardly as he surveyed the room, carefully taking in the sight that haunted him.
He and Wesley stood at the entrance of what appeared to be a deserted cafeteria. From memory, Angel knew exactly which cafeteria this was. Sunnydale High. Not one sound could be heard in the large room. Wesley and Angel nearly froze at the realization that the Sunnydale High cafeteria was slightly different than the one in reality. Instead of tables, there were huge, giant-sized bouquets of flowers, and instead of chairs were somber, rock-solid gravestones.
"Oh my." Wesley let slip out as he looked from left to right, stunned and slightly frightened by the grimness of what he was seeing.
Angel took a couple of steps forward, entering the room fully. His eyes traced invisible lines on each stones, recognizing most of the names on them. Some were people he only saw once, some were friends of Cordelia's.some were more familiar, such as the Scoobies, parents, family members. He recognized most of them and suddenly felt as if a cold fog had fallen upon the cafeteria. Wesley walked in behind him and followed Angel to the middle of the room.
They stood, surrounded by the gravestones of people who had died in Cordelia's mind. In her heart. Whether they had brought it upon themselves, or whether she just found it easier to think of them as dead, the fact remained: Sunnydaly was Cordelia's graveyard. Angel stopped in front of a large, empty stone. No name was engraved on it, no date, nothing.
"You don't think." Wesley hesitated as he stared at the blank stone.
Angel felt the need to breathe all of a sudden. Wesley had not finished his sentence, but he knew exactly what was going through the ex-watcher's mind. This stone was Cordelia's. Not yet finished, but simply on the verge of being engraved.
At the very moment, they heard the sound of footsteps behind them. Both men quickly turned around to see who had sneaked up on them and the person they found stunned them a bit. Angel frowned, unsure as to whom it actually was at first.
There, in front of them, stood a dark haired, tall, slim little ten-year- old girl. Her hazel eyes bathed in a profound sadness that struck him down to his insides. She was wearing a beautiful and colorful summer dress that accentuated her otherwise gray figure. She seemed frozen in the grim setting that surrounded them. Angel recognized her.
The girl from the woods.
She was just as silent as before. Just as calm. Just as sad.
"Who are you?" the small, child-like voice asked Angel, staring intently into his eyes.
There was some sort of reluctance in the way she spoke and stared, as if she was shielding herself from whoever approached her.
"My name is Angel." Angel answered in an even tone.
The girl stared at him silently for what seemed like forever. The sadness in her eyes grew into curiousness and confusion.
"Do I know you?" she then asked in her tiny little voice that made him wish he had a heart so it could beat at the same slow rhythm than hers was beating.
Angel hesitated as he examined the young girl. There was something about her. Something utterly familiar and deep. Something striking, which he couldn't exactly put his finger on.
"I don't know." he replied in all honesty as he took a step towards her, careful not to scare her away. "Who are you?" he asked her with uncharacteristic caution.
The girl held her breath for a moment, and, without losing her calm posture, she opened her mouth to speak.
"My name is Cordelia." She offered as her answer, her eyes lowering to the ground as if she was about to cry.
Angel and Wesley looked at one another, stunned, but not entirely surprised. Angel turned back to face the little girl, who was now looking up into his eyes with the vulnerability of a child, yet the inner strength of a grown woman. Her glance never faltered. She held his stare intensely, as if she was waiting for him to say something, or do something.
Angel took a few more steps towards her, amazed by her hazel eyes. He could slowly take in all the resemblance the little girl had with the Cordelia he now knew. He found himself standing right in front of her, and reminded himself of just how intimidating his tall form could be for a ten-year-old child. He slowly bent down on one knee so he could be on eye level with the little girl and stared at her with amazement. Never had he anticipated meeting the child version of Cordelia, especially in a setting like this. The silence was weighing on them all. Wesley was standing back, watching the scene unfold before his eyes, not sure if he was dreaming or not.
Angel carefully reached and touched the little girl's shoulder with one hand.
"I've seen you before." the little girl whispered. ".in here.in her thoughts." she emotionally told a very moved Angel. "Are you here to save us?" she then asked, leaning forward so that only he could hear her pleading whisper.
Angel didn't have the words to answer such an emotion-filled plea. The small tears hidden in the young Cordy's eyes were enough to make him speechless. He simply stared at her, unable to speak.
"Find her.please." Little Cordy demanded of him as he slowly removed his hand from her shoulders.
"How?" Angel asked her, figuring that she must know her way around here better than he and Wesley did. "Where is she?" he asked, softly.
"They have here."
"Where?" Angel's voice was increasingly insisting, but the girl never flinched. "Please, tell me where she is." he added, suddenly feeling strange about referring to Cordelia as 'she' when the two girls were the same person.
The girl's image began to fade, as if she was slowly disappearing. Angel tried to grab her shoulder again but his hand went right through her. Little Cordelia Chase was vanishing before their eyes and all she could do was stare at them with tears in her eyes.
"Help me." Little Cordy whispered, ignoring Angel's constant questioning.
Wesley took a few steps forward, noticing how Angel was losing control of the conversation.
"We don't know how." Wesley answered, lowering his weapon as to not frighten her.
The young girl kept on fading before their eyes as her time was being cut short.
"The more scared you get, the more powerful she is." she wisely informed the two distraught men. She then looked into Angel's eyes again. "Follow your heart."
Those were her last words as the image of Little Cordy disappeared completely, leaving Angel and Wesley staring into space.
A few seconds after, a loud scream was heard throughout the morbid cafeteria and Angel shot up straight on his feet. The voice was unmistakable.
It was Cordelia's.
Angel and Wesley both ran out of the room in the direction of the painful scream.
--
Gunn, Fred and Lorne stopped their walk when they reached what looked like a crossroad. In front of them stood three locked doors in front of which hung three giant rings. They were hanging from the ceiling, obviously serving as doorbells of something of the kind. At least, this is what Fred and Gunn believed they were.
"So, this kind of puts a halt to our little cruising." Lorne said as they all stared at the rings and the doors.
"Barbie's read one too many J.R.R. Tolkien books." Gunn mumbled, leaning in to speak to Fred, who could not help a little smile.
They seemed to stand still for a long while, pondering which ring to pull on. Fred could not help the very bad feeling she had about this. Finally, after a long pause, Lorne offered to do it. A fearful look came across Fred's face, for none of them knew what awaited them once one of the rings had been pulled down. Lorne looked at her and Gunn over his shoulder, unconsciously looking more frightened than he wished to let on.
"Stay back with her." Lorne told Gunn.
He then took a few steps forward. Gunn fought the urge to stop Lorne and offer to do it himself, but sensing his forthcoming thoughts, Fred grabbed his hand with hers, keeping him by her side. The genuine worry behind her touch convinced him to let Lorne do it.
"So, which one caught your fancy Winifred?" Lorne asked in a shaky voice as he looked from one ring to the other.
"Is neither a good enough answer for you?" she innocently asked, not really wanting to take on the pressure of choosing their fate.
"I'm afraid not.unfortunately." Lorne mumbled back.
After a little pondering and hesitating, Lorne finally set his choice on the ring to his right. He reached one of his green hands up and held his breath while he pulled down on the ring. Fred, standing behind him with Gunn, grabbed her companion's arm tightly, while Lorne closed his eyes, expecting the worse.
Nothing.
Silence.
Lorne opened one eye suspiciously and waited. Still nothing. He then turned to face Gunn and Fred, who seemed just as confused as he was, and he shrugged, not exactly knowing what had happened - or not happened for that matter. Fred and Gunn barely had time to exchange a concerned look when the earth beneath them began moving. The walls trembled, rocks began to fall on them, and right in front of them, just before the doors, the floor began opening up.
It happened like a domino game. The ground was falling down, as if the whole it left behind was running after them.
"Let's get out of here!" Gunn shouted as he pulled on Fred's arm. "Lorne!" he then called out as the green Host followed their lead and began running with them.
The second their feet lifted off the ground, the place where it had stood crumbled to pieces and vanished into an endless hole. Fred, Gunn and Lorne ran for their lives. Just like the dominos, falling one by one, following their great path, the crumbling floor was quickly catching up with them. Gunn pulled even harder on Fred's arm, making sure she was right behind him.
Lorne shot a look over his shoulder once in a while, making sure he had a little advance on the hell mouth that seemed to run after them. However, he obviously wasn't as fast as Gunn and Fred. They seemed to be ahead of him of at least a couple of feet and fear suddenly overtook him. The floor was like a huge mouth, chasing them, destroying the ground beneath them only in anticipation of swallowing them whole.
Gunn spotted a trap in the wall, a couple of feet in the air.
"Fred, come on.up" he said as he helped her up into the passage.
Once up there, on a somewhat second floor, she grabbed Gunn's hand and helped him up as well.
"Lorne!!" Fred called out, seeing how he had fallen behind and how dangerously quick the crumbling floor was at catching up with him.
"Jump!" Gunn shouted, tending his hand in front of him, promising to catch Lorne.
But Lorne didn't have the time to jump. At the moment he was about to reach the place where Gunn and Fred had taken up shelter, the floor crumbled under his feet, making him slip. His feet fell through and a scream escaped his throat just as his body was swallowed whole by the hungry floor mouth.
"Nooooo!!" was the only word that escaped Fred's throat as she and Gunn helplessly watched their friend vanish into the deep hole.
A look of pure terror and sadness spread across their faces as the earthquake finally stopped just under their hiding place. They just stared, unbelievably frozen and pained. They stood there, powerlessly as everything around them stopped moving. They both fell on their knees, standing on the edge of the cliff that had now taken their friend's life.
A small tear rolled down Fred's face.
--
She felt a throbbing in her head. Her muscles were weak and she slowly opened her eyes.
Cordelia was once again lying down in a shallow pool of water, but this time, she was wearing a straight jacket and found herself unable to move at free will. She lifted her head up slightly enough so that she could take a quick look around. She struggled, twisted and turned, until she was in a seating position, wet again from the water.
She was surrounded by glass walls. Transparent walls. If anything, it looked like a glass cage, about the size of her bedroom. She was locked up in a transparent cube.with no way out.
--------------
SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER: In what state will Angel find Cordelia, and who will be the next victim of this vicious game?
---------------
Cordelia rushed through the corridors, following the familiar female scream. She tried to force practically every door on her way but none of them led to the person in agony that she could so vividly hear. Her feet splashed in the water in a rhythm that synchronized with her increasingly rapid heartbeat.
She heard it again.
A scream of fear.
A scream of torture.
The sound quickly led her to an enormous door with no window. She tried to open the door but it was clearly locked from the inside. With quick breaths, she began to try to kick the door open, but unsuccessfully. She was too busy trying to break in to notice that the screams had stop, only to leave an intense silence on the other side of the room.
Cordelia turned around, quickly surveying her surroundings. Her eyes landed on a large sword hanging on the wall nearby. She jumped and grabbed it in a feverish move and headed back towards the door. A couple of sharp, methodical swing is all it took to break the lock and cut the doorknob entirely. Cordelia dropped the sword to the ground as she pushed the door open.
She barely took the time to take note of her surroundings - a large room divided by a metallic cage-like wall - before her eyes landed on the object of such previous agony. Cordelia's eyes welled up with tears and she held her breath for a moment, taking in the painful sight that stood before her.
"Oh my God." she muttered to herself as she threw herself towards the cage wall. "Emily." she said, still in shock but painfully aware that she couldn't' allow herself to stay that way for very long.
If the cries of pain she'd heard before were any indication, the situation could get ugly.and fast.
Cordy shook the cage wall with both of her hands, trying to get in, but she couldn't.
Inside, Emily lied in an exhausted state of mind on a small white bed, straps firmly holding her hands on each side of her head. Her eyes swam in a shallow, confused state of emptiness. Small tears hid behind the stare she shot at the ceiling, while drops of blood rolled down the side of her face from the knife cuts on her right cheek.
"Oh God.Emily??" Cordelia let out, her face entirely covered with a sudden sadness.
Emily's fists were clenched, as if she had been busy trying to free herself, but in vain. Her jaw was solidly clenched as well, and Cordelia noticed a very disturbing and uncharacteristic anger in Emily's eyes. Yet, the young girl would not turn to look at her cousin, who stood on the other side of her room-sized cage.
"Emily.look at me.Emily?!" Cordelia begged of her cousin, as she desperately clung to the grillage.
"Go away." Emily finally spoke in a choked, pained voice that came off as a blend between a plea and an order.
Cordelia simply stared in shock through the little square holes, taken aback by her cousin's response. Never had she seen Emily in such a state. Then, Cordy's eyes fell to the floor beside the bed on which Emily was tied up, and that's when it dawned upon her. There, on the ground, rested an empty needle, with which Cordelia assumed Emily had been injected.
"No.Emily.look at me damnit! I'm not leaving you here." Cordelia said with the determination of a ten-men army.
"Get out of here..Cordy." Emily breathed out in a faint tone that was filled with fear.
"Emily." Cordelia argued, forcefully trying to break the cage wall with her hands.
"Get away!" Emily shouted in a sudden burst of energy as she got agitated and pulled on her arms to break the straps, but without any success. "Get away from me.it's a trap." she warned an emotional Cordelia as she finally tilted her head enough to look at her.
Emily's eyes were drowning in tears and desperate fears when Cordelia found her stare.
"I can't leave you here." Cordelia whispered, forcing down the moral battle that had begun inside her head.
"Yes you can." Emily whispered back through her teeth, urgently trying to convince Cordelia. "They're gonna kill you.." Emily added in a hushed and anxious tone.
"Emily." Cordelia pleaded, unable to make herself leave.
Her eyes were riveted on the beaten young girl lying on the bed, and nothing inside of her would let her leave. This was a trap. It was a trap. Emily would not be warning her of such if it wasn't. But, as she stared at the very much alive version of her cousin, her heart sunk lower than the deepest sea and she found herself unable to just run away.
A loud noise was heard from outside the room, which prompted Cordelia to shoot a look over her shoulder and Emily to battle against her weakened state and try to free herself once more.
"Get out Cordy.Get out while you still can!" Emily cried out as two large, buff demons burst into the room, holding weapons and a strait jacket.
"Emily." Cordelia managed to let out just before the two immensely strong demons grabbed her by the arms and forced the straight jacket onto her.
Cordelia kicked and screamed as they brutally strapped the jacket on her, hitting her if necessary and shouting at her to shut up.
"Cordy!!" Emily shouted in vain as she watched the beasts hunt down her cousin.
Cordelia fell to her knees, outrageously trying to free her arms but it was too late. The straight jacket was immobilizing her whole upper body. When she tried to kick one of the acne-prone demons, the other punched her on the face and she fell to the ground, unable to get up on her own. They then grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up savagely. Blinded by the wet hair that now fell on her face, Cordelia still managed to catch a glimpse of a panicked Emily on the other side of the cage.
One of the guys took a syringe out and stuck it in Cordelia's neck, making her cringe momentarily. IT didn't take much time for the sedative to begin to have its desired effect on Cordelia and she quickly weakened.
"Let go of me!" Cordy spitted out as the forcefully dragged her out of the room. "Emily.!!!!" she shouted as they yanked her out of the doorway, with tremendous strength.
A painfully stricken Emily fought against the straps that held her onto the bed but was unable to do anything to help her cousin. She closed her eyes as she felt a throbbing in her arms. Emily prayed a silent prayer to herself.
"Angel, where are you.?" she whispered in a weak murmur.
--
Angel and Wesley found themselves in a dark corridor that reminded them of the caves in Pylea.
"This is unexpectedly sinister." Wesley remarked as he and Angel carefully began their journey through the multitude of corridors.
"This isn't Cordelia," Angel mumbled, as if he needed to remind himself of that fact. "At least not entirely."
Both men kept strolling through the cave-like passages, and it didn't take them long to notice the constant water beneath their feet.
"What do you think this is all about?" Wesley inquired while Angel bent down and dipped the tip of his fingers in the cold water.
"I don't know." he simply answered in a pensive tone. "But there seems to be water everywhere." He added, looking up at the dark corridor. "I have a bad feeling about this Wesley. We need to find her, and fast." He muttered in a dire need to hide his panic.
Still curious about the abundance of water imagery that haunted Cordy's head, the two made their way to the end of the corridor and passed some sort of threshold.
"Angel, wait.maybe we shouldn't go in there. We don't know what could be there. We're unprepared." Wesley rambled on a little, but Angel dismissed his reluctance.
"Cordy might be in there." he insisted. "Whatever is behind each and every one of those doors, we'll be unprepared for it."
"What makes you so sure?" Wesley inquired. "After all, we do know Cordelia."
"We know what she wants us to know." Angel said as he turned to face Wesley. "We know what she lets us know. Here...she has no control over what we stumble upon, and if Dennis' mother has anything to do with it, we'll only stumble upon the worse." he informed the former watcher, perfectly knowing he wasn't giving out any new information on the whole situation.
On these words, Angel and Wesley walked through the threshold and stood in the doorway. Angel swallowed hardly as he surveyed the room, carefully taking in the sight that haunted him.
He and Wesley stood at the entrance of what appeared to be a deserted cafeteria. From memory, Angel knew exactly which cafeteria this was. Sunnydale High. Not one sound could be heard in the large room. Wesley and Angel nearly froze at the realization that the Sunnydale High cafeteria was slightly different than the one in reality. Instead of tables, there were huge, giant-sized bouquets of flowers, and instead of chairs were somber, rock-solid gravestones.
"Oh my." Wesley let slip out as he looked from left to right, stunned and slightly frightened by the grimness of what he was seeing.
Angel took a couple of steps forward, entering the room fully. His eyes traced invisible lines on each stones, recognizing most of the names on them. Some were people he only saw once, some were friends of Cordelia's.some were more familiar, such as the Scoobies, parents, family members. He recognized most of them and suddenly felt as if a cold fog had fallen upon the cafeteria. Wesley walked in behind him and followed Angel to the middle of the room.
They stood, surrounded by the gravestones of people who had died in Cordelia's mind. In her heart. Whether they had brought it upon themselves, or whether she just found it easier to think of them as dead, the fact remained: Sunnydaly was Cordelia's graveyard. Angel stopped in front of a large, empty stone. No name was engraved on it, no date, nothing.
"You don't think." Wesley hesitated as he stared at the blank stone.
Angel felt the need to breathe all of a sudden. Wesley had not finished his sentence, but he knew exactly what was going through the ex-watcher's mind. This stone was Cordelia's. Not yet finished, but simply on the verge of being engraved.
At the very moment, they heard the sound of footsteps behind them. Both men quickly turned around to see who had sneaked up on them and the person they found stunned them a bit. Angel frowned, unsure as to whom it actually was at first.
There, in front of them, stood a dark haired, tall, slim little ten-year- old girl. Her hazel eyes bathed in a profound sadness that struck him down to his insides. She was wearing a beautiful and colorful summer dress that accentuated her otherwise gray figure. She seemed frozen in the grim setting that surrounded them. Angel recognized her.
The girl from the woods.
She was just as silent as before. Just as calm. Just as sad.
"Who are you?" the small, child-like voice asked Angel, staring intently into his eyes.
There was some sort of reluctance in the way she spoke and stared, as if she was shielding herself from whoever approached her.
"My name is Angel." Angel answered in an even tone.
The girl stared at him silently for what seemed like forever. The sadness in her eyes grew into curiousness and confusion.
"Do I know you?" she then asked in her tiny little voice that made him wish he had a heart so it could beat at the same slow rhythm than hers was beating.
Angel hesitated as he examined the young girl. There was something about her. Something utterly familiar and deep. Something striking, which he couldn't exactly put his finger on.
"I don't know." he replied in all honesty as he took a step towards her, careful not to scare her away. "Who are you?" he asked her with uncharacteristic caution.
The girl held her breath for a moment, and, without losing her calm posture, she opened her mouth to speak.
"My name is Cordelia." She offered as her answer, her eyes lowering to the ground as if she was about to cry.
Angel and Wesley looked at one another, stunned, but not entirely surprised. Angel turned back to face the little girl, who was now looking up into his eyes with the vulnerability of a child, yet the inner strength of a grown woman. Her glance never faltered. She held his stare intensely, as if she was waiting for him to say something, or do something.
Angel took a few more steps towards her, amazed by her hazel eyes. He could slowly take in all the resemblance the little girl had with the Cordelia he now knew. He found himself standing right in front of her, and reminded himself of just how intimidating his tall form could be for a ten-year-old child. He slowly bent down on one knee so he could be on eye level with the little girl and stared at her with amazement. Never had he anticipated meeting the child version of Cordelia, especially in a setting like this. The silence was weighing on them all. Wesley was standing back, watching the scene unfold before his eyes, not sure if he was dreaming or not.
Angel carefully reached and touched the little girl's shoulder with one hand.
"I've seen you before." the little girl whispered. ".in here.in her thoughts." she emotionally told a very moved Angel. "Are you here to save us?" she then asked, leaning forward so that only he could hear her pleading whisper.
Angel didn't have the words to answer such an emotion-filled plea. The small tears hidden in the young Cordy's eyes were enough to make him speechless. He simply stared at her, unable to speak.
"Find her.please." Little Cordy demanded of him as he slowly removed his hand from her shoulders.
"How?" Angel asked her, figuring that she must know her way around here better than he and Wesley did. "Where is she?" he asked, softly.
"They have here."
"Where?" Angel's voice was increasingly insisting, but the girl never flinched. "Please, tell me where she is." he added, suddenly feeling strange about referring to Cordelia as 'she' when the two girls were the same person.
The girl's image began to fade, as if she was slowly disappearing. Angel tried to grab her shoulder again but his hand went right through her. Little Cordelia Chase was vanishing before their eyes and all she could do was stare at them with tears in her eyes.
"Help me." Little Cordy whispered, ignoring Angel's constant questioning.
Wesley took a few steps forward, noticing how Angel was losing control of the conversation.
"We don't know how." Wesley answered, lowering his weapon as to not frighten her.
The young girl kept on fading before their eyes as her time was being cut short.
"The more scared you get, the more powerful she is." she wisely informed the two distraught men. She then looked into Angel's eyes again. "Follow your heart."
Those were her last words as the image of Little Cordy disappeared completely, leaving Angel and Wesley staring into space.
A few seconds after, a loud scream was heard throughout the morbid cafeteria and Angel shot up straight on his feet. The voice was unmistakable.
It was Cordelia's.
Angel and Wesley both ran out of the room in the direction of the painful scream.
--
Gunn, Fred and Lorne stopped their walk when they reached what looked like a crossroad. In front of them stood three locked doors in front of which hung three giant rings. They were hanging from the ceiling, obviously serving as doorbells of something of the kind. At least, this is what Fred and Gunn believed they were.
"So, this kind of puts a halt to our little cruising." Lorne said as they all stared at the rings and the doors.
"Barbie's read one too many J.R.R. Tolkien books." Gunn mumbled, leaning in to speak to Fred, who could not help a little smile.
They seemed to stand still for a long while, pondering which ring to pull on. Fred could not help the very bad feeling she had about this. Finally, after a long pause, Lorne offered to do it. A fearful look came across Fred's face, for none of them knew what awaited them once one of the rings had been pulled down. Lorne looked at her and Gunn over his shoulder, unconsciously looking more frightened than he wished to let on.
"Stay back with her." Lorne told Gunn.
He then took a few steps forward. Gunn fought the urge to stop Lorne and offer to do it himself, but sensing his forthcoming thoughts, Fred grabbed his hand with hers, keeping him by her side. The genuine worry behind her touch convinced him to let Lorne do it.
"So, which one caught your fancy Winifred?" Lorne asked in a shaky voice as he looked from one ring to the other.
"Is neither a good enough answer for you?" she innocently asked, not really wanting to take on the pressure of choosing their fate.
"I'm afraid not.unfortunately." Lorne mumbled back.
After a little pondering and hesitating, Lorne finally set his choice on the ring to his right. He reached one of his green hands up and held his breath while he pulled down on the ring. Fred, standing behind him with Gunn, grabbed her companion's arm tightly, while Lorne closed his eyes, expecting the worse.
Nothing.
Silence.
Lorne opened one eye suspiciously and waited. Still nothing. He then turned to face Gunn and Fred, who seemed just as confused as he was, and he shrugged, not exactly knowing what had happened - or not happened for that matter. Fred and Gunn barely had time to exchange a concerned look when the earth beneath them began moving. The walls trembled, rocks began to fall on them, and right in front of them, just before the doors, the floor began opening up.
It happened like a domino game. The ground was falling down, as if the whole it left behind was running after them.
"Let's get out of here!" Gunn shouted as he pulled on Fred's arm. "Lorne!" he then called out as the green Host followed their lead and began running with them.
The second their feet lifted off the ground, the place where it had stood crumbled to pieces and vanished into an endless hole. Fred, Gunn and Lorne ran for their lives. Just like the dominos, falling one by one, following their great path, the crumbling floor was quickly catching up with them. Gunn pulled even harder on Fred's arm, making sure she was right behind him.
Lorne shot a look over his shoulder once in a while, making sure he had a little advance on the hell mouth that seemed to run after them. However, he obviously wasn't as fast as Gunn and Fred. They seemed to be ahead of him of at least a couple of feet and fear suddenly overtook him. The floor was like a huge mouth, chasing them, destroying the ground beneath them only in anticipation of swallowing them whole.
Gunn spotted a trap in the wall, a couple of feet in the air.
"Fred, come on.up" he said as he helped her up into the passage.
Once up there, on a somewhat second floor, she grabbed Gunn's hand and helped him up as well.
"Lorne!!" Fred called out, seeing how he had fallen behind and how dangerously quick the crumbling floor was at catching up with him.
"Jump!" Gunn shouted, tending his hand in front of him, promising to catch Lorne.
But Lorne didn't have the time to jump. At the moment he was about to reach the place where Gunn and Fred had taken up shelter, the floor crumbled under his feet, making him slip. His feet fell through and a scream escaped his throat just as his body was swallowed whole by the hungry floor mouth.
"Nooooo!!" was the only word that escaped Fred's throat as she and Gunn helplessly watched their friend vanish into the deep hole.
A look of pure terror and sadness spread across their faces as the earthquake finally stopped just under their hiding place. They just stared, unbelievably frozen and pained. They stood there, powerlessly as everything around them stopped moving. They both fell on their knees, standing on the edge of the cliff that had now taken their friend's life.
A small tear rolled down Fred's face.
--
She felt a throbbing in her head. Her muscles were weak and she slowly opened her eyes.
Cordelia was once again lying down in a shallow pool of water, but this time, she was wearing a straight jacket and found herself unable to move at free will. She lifted her head up slightly enough so that she could take a quick look around. She struggled, twisted and turned, until she was in a seating position, wet again from the water.
She was surrounded by glass walls. Transparent walls. If anything, it looked like a glass cage, about the size of her bedroom. She was locked up in a transparent cube.with no way out.
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SNEAK PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER: In what state will Angel find Cordelia, and who will be the next victim of this vicious game?
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