1 Part 16 –
"Wesley. You know anything about Greek twins Artemis and Apollo?"
"Why yes. Aren't they the son and daughter of Zeus and Leto, a daughter of Titan?" When Angel nodded, Wesley went on. "Artemis was the goddess of childbirth, of nature, and of the harvest. She was also the chief hunter to the gods and goddess of hunting and of wild animals, especially bears. And as the Olympian goddess of the moon, she was sometimes identified with goddesses Selene, goddess of the moon and Hecate, goddess of darkness. Apollo was a god of prophecy, and some mortals which he loved were given this gift. He was also the god of agriculture and cattle and of light and truth. He taught humans the art of healing. The twins mother, Leto, was said to be very much loved by Zeus, but because of his wife, Hera, and fearing her jealously, Leto was banished while bearing the twins. Leto found an island where she was welcomed, Delos, which is where she gave birth to the twins… In fact, the name Cordelia came from the Greek island Delos, from Delia."
Cordelia was giving him a funny look. "How the *hell* do you know all that, Wes? You're as bad as Angel." She looked over at Spike. "Anything you want to add, Blondie?"
"I'm not as *old* as Angel. And not as *sad* as Wesley. I'm still trying to work out how the bloody subject went from you being adopted to bloody Greek gods!"
Cordelia had to smile at how blunt he was being. She wondered what this had got to do with her heating and cooling water. Hey, she didn't even know why her being adopted was a thing - she wasn't demon or anything cuz Buffy would've known even when she didn't!
"They've lost me too!" She told the blonde vampire as she went and stood next to him.
"Actually, Angel. Would you mind telling me what brought Artemis and Apollo up? And what it has got to do with anything?" Wesley questioned, sitting at the table with coffee he had obviously just made.
"I read somewhere years and years ago, of someone called the Blessed Salient One, who would stop some evil god taking over, I can't remember the exact details, but, it said they were to be half god themselves, while also half mortal. The Salient One was to have extreme powers, just like a god, and as strong as a god, but, technically they would be mortal. The Salient One was to have many, many different powers, but there was three things certain they would have; the power to heal; the gift of prophecy's; and finally a connection to the oracles, especially the oracle at Delphi. It didn't say anything about Apollo, but thinking about it now, ... Apollo taught mortals how to heal, Apollo was a primarily a god of prophecy, and Delphi was the site of Apollo's victory over the Python for the oracle there."
"So the Salient One would have a connection to Apollo?"
Angel nodded. "I'm thinking that possibly Apollo would be the father of the Salient One, and the mother would be mortal, since the book said the Blessed Salient One would be half mortal."
"But, what has that got to do -"
"Cordelia. - The name. It originated from Delos, where Apollo and his sister were born."
"So you think Cordelia is the Salient One? - Angel, that's ridiculous! Cordelia is just a name!" Wes looked over at Cordelia. "I'm sorry to have to ask this, Cordelia, but, am I right in thinking Cordelia was your adopted name?"
"Yeah. My real mom called me Amy."
"See, Angel. I don't see -"
"Firstly, Cora has visions – *prophecies*. That's one of the three things the Salient One has, the rest could be yet to come..." He turned to the leggy brunette. "Cora, could you phone your parents and ask them why they named you Cordelia?"
"Angel, I'm with Wesley. There must be a zillion girls out there called Cordelia, besides, I wasn't even called Cordelia from the start. I was an Amy!"
"Please, Cordelia. I just need to know *why* they finally decided on that. What was wrong with Amy?"
"I told you! Jeez, weren't you listening - my mom thought it was too common!"
"Cordelia, please -"
She swung her arms out in frustration. "Fine! I'll do it." She marched to the phone.
"My parents are gonna be so mad for this!" She told them as she dialled. "I mean, it's six o'clock in the morning!" She then glared at the former watcher "- Which reminds me, I've had no sleep thanks to all of your questions, Wesley."
The rouge demon hunter muttered an apology, not wanting to be on her bad side.
She tapped her foot impatiently. "It's ringing." She informed them.
"OH! Hi mom!"
She frowned. "Cordelia, y'know your daughter - the only person in the world that would greet you with 'mom'." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry. It's just I have a really *pesky* friend who wants to know why you named me what you did...."
"I know! I think he must be doing an essay for college on why people name their kids what they do or something...."
"You can't remember, how can you not remember -"
She paused for quite awhile. Shock on her face.
"Mom, are you *sure*?"
"Does daddy remember it too?"
"Oh. OK. Sorry for calling so early -" She stared at the phone in her hands for a moment.
Cordelia slammed the phone down. "Oh, and how are you darling? How's your life? We love you." She said sourly.
She then turned to the three men looking at her anxiously.
"So?" Wesley prodded.
"So, she said something that made me ditch sticking with you and make me believe Angel's theory."
"What did she say?" Angel asked urgently.
"You want the whole of our really *short* conversation or just the weird bit?"
Angel gave her a look.
"Fine OK. She said when the adoption lady came over with me, she suggested Cordelia, and listed like a zillion things why it was a good name. Now the really freaky part is that the adoption lady who dropped me off at my new home, was called Sandra. Sandra *Artemis*. - This Apollo guy's twin sister... Now, I do believe in coincidences and all, but come on, to say *that* was one, is stretching it a little."
"She *really* said that?"
"Huh - uh, and my dad remembers it too. - Wait a minute, if it was this chick Artemis, well, isn't she supposed to be dead, *and* if Apollo is the father of this Salient One, which you reckon is me, does that mean I'm like half goddess? - Cuz that would be *so* cool!"
"They would be able to come down to earth, Cordy, and if I'm right, and you are the Blessed Salient One, don't think it's so cool. The reason the Salient One is here is to defeat some all-powerful, evil god. So if it is you, well..."
"Hey, you know you said about my visions linking in with the Salient One having prophecies, well, not all my visions are prophecies, and well, Doyle gave me them, didn't he?"
"Doyle always said he was the messenger to give *me* the news on the visions. That was part of my atonement, but what if he was just told that, and he was really a messenger in the sense he was to deliver the visions to you in a way we would think as logical, until you were ready for your powers!"
Cordelia sighed. "I get you. But that isn't very nice for them to do that to Doyle. And The Powers That Be gave him the visions, so.. ugh! This is frustrating!"
"Angel, I would normally insist that we could get to the bottom of this on our own, but well, we must find out all we can about the Salient One to see if it is in fact Cordelia. Therefore, shall I call Giles and inform him of our predicament?" Wesley asked the eldest vampire.
"Yes. In fact, tell him that if they're not to busy with some demon, could we have everyone in Sunnydale researching this. - Anything on Artemis and Apollo and whatever can be related to them in some way. Also, we'll need to find that prophecy I remember. Ask Giles if he's ever read anything similar."
Wesley nodded. "I'll do it in the office." He called over his shoulder as he headed to the elevator.
"Y'know how you said Doyle was given visions from the PTB for your redemption?" Cordelia suddenly asked thoughtfully. " - Well, what if the visions aren't your redemption? I mean, Doyle was the delivery boy," she cringed as she said it, not wanting it to be true, "and the visions were always meant for me. Now, because Doyle was told to go to *you*, he assumed that you were who the visions were for, and the PTB must've said something about you working for redemption. Depending on how it was Doyle got all that info, he could've taken it two ways. The first, that being a 'delivery- boy' was passing on what he saw in the visions to you, helping you work for your redemption. That was the way he thought it was all about, but what if it wasn't?"
Angel just looked at her blankly.
"If it *was* the other way, then Doyle being a 'delivery-boy', his only job was to give me the visions, and the part about you working for redemption, well, since we're talking Greek here, 'Angel' in Greek, from what I remember from Nanny number fifteen, Anna, is Angelos. And I *think* that means messenger, right? So the PTB *might* have meant that your redemption was to be *my* messenger. - Oh, no, a messenger for what? Ugh! - Just forget I said all that!"
"Oh, my God!" Angel gasped. "It makes perfect sense now you have pointed it out! You have two things out of the three! Don't you get it? - Because you are still half mortal, you can't go into see any oracles ever. - But I can! Angelos does mean messenger in Greek, so I'm *your* connection to the oracle in Delos! The visions are your prophecies, the only thing missing is the healing, and we could test that out easily if I just -" He had grabbed a knife off the counter and held it to his arm.
"Angel - no!" Cordelia squealed, and dashed forward to stop him.
Spike got there first and snatched the knife from Angel. "Are you bloody insane? - OW!" He yelled as the knife grazed his the palm of his hand as he seized it from his Sire.
Angel had to grin. "Thanks, Spike. Now I won't have to do it myself."
Spike held his hand out to Cordy. "Do something! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Cordelia grabbed his hand, and flinched as some blood dripped onto her. "Some big bad vamp you are! And like I'm supposed to know what to do!" She cried out.
"When you turned cold coffee into hot, you said you had *wished* it to happen - well, do it now!" Angel cried at her.
"Fine." She didn't appreciate being shouted at under pressure.
She clasped her hand over Spike's roughly, "ow! Bloody hell!" and made a face as she did so, knowing she had just willing put her hand in blood.
"Eeew! Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"
"Cordelia!" Spike yelled.
"Would you stop being such a baby! God anyone would think you were ten not one-hundred and whatever!"
"One-hundred and twenty-six. Now would you bloody get on with it!"
"Y'know it's kinda hard to wish you didn't have a cut on your hand while wanting to strangle you!" She bit back heatedly.
"Both of you calm down. Cordelia, concentrate. And Spike, let her concentrate!" Angel yelled to stop the squabbling.
They both turned to him. "And what about you, Broody-boy?" Cordelia shot him an icy glare.
"Yeah! *You* don't seem to be letting her bloody concentrate!" Spike added.
Cordelia pulled her tongue out at him before turning back to Spike. "OK. Here we go."
She sighed and closed her eyes. Concentrating on her breathing.
"Shit." Angel whispered loudly from amazement.
Cordelia's eyes shot open. "What?"
"Your hand was making a white light." Spike told her. "Do more - the Poof interrupted before it could actually do any bloody healing!" He glared at Angel.
"Ugh!" Cordelia grunted, before closing her eyes again and wishing Spike's hand was patched up.
She heard Spike suck his breath in, which she found odd since he didn't need to breathe. So she opened her eyes and looked across at him to see if he was OK, she didn't want to hurt him when she was supposed to be healing him!
Spike noticed her looking at him, and looked directly back at her, she watched as his mouth dropped and sported a purely amazed look.
"Spike? You OK?" She whispered. Hoping, and wishing he truly was. She blinked. "Spike?"
He broke his gaze from her, and looked down at their interlinked hands. He pulled his apart from hers and looked down at it.
Angel and Cordy watched as his eyebrows raised, and he nodded his head. "Cool. You healed me." He showed them his hand. "Angel, did you see her eyes when she looked at me? They were glowing a short of purple color, and it was that moment, when I was looking at her, and she was staring back at me, my hand stopped hurting."
Angel was inspecting his hand. "No, her eyes looked normal to me, but her hand *was* making your hand glow." He told his childe.
He looked over at Cordy. "How did that feel?" He asked moving towards her.
"I feel really weak." She whispered, and slowly lowered herself into a chair. "And dizzy."
Angel placed his cool hand onto her forehead. "Very hot." He muttered to himself. "Um, Cora, if this is what happens all the time when you heal someone, I'm only letting you do it in extreme cases. And -"
"Angel!" Wesley cried as he came running down the stairs. Breathlessly he continued. "Giles knows of the book you spoke of, in fact he's sure he has it in his collection and remembers reading that this evil God would rise through the Hellmouth, but he couldn't remember when..." Wesley slowed down a little. "There's more; Xander. He was patrolling with Buffy and they came across a demon. It burned and badly beat Buffy before she killed it, but Xander not being a slayer got seriously injured, at the moment he's stable, but there's an eighty percent chance he might die. They are not really concentrating on anything but watching over him, in fact I just caught Giles before he was about to return to the hospital."
Angel opened his mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance.
Cordelia shot up, though feeling a little woozy still. "Take me to Sunnydale, Angel." She said urgently.
And although Angel wasn't that keen on Xander and knew that if he was stable, there would be no need to rush to Sunnydale, but he also knew that even though Cordelia wasn't with Xander anymore, he was still a friend and he still had a place in her heart.
The vampire didn't argue with the young woman.
~*~
Go on to part SEVENTEEN
"Wesley. You know anything about Greek twins Artemis and Apollo?"
"Why yes. Aren't they the son and daughter of Zeus and Leto, a daughter of Titan?" When Angel nodded, Wesley went on. "Artemis was the goddess of childbirth, of nature, and of the harvest. She was also the chief hunter to the gods and goddess of hunting and of wild animals, especially bears. And as the Olympian goddess of the moon, she was sometimes identified with goddesses Selene, goddess of the moon and Hecate, goddess of darkness. Apollo was a god of prophecy, and some mortals which he loved were given this gift. He was also the god of agriculture and cattle and of light and truth. He taught humans the art of healing. The twins mother, Leto, was said to be very much loved by Zeus, but because of his wife, Hera, and fearing her jealously, Leto was banished while bearing the twins. Leto found an island where she was welcomed, Delos, which is where she gave birth to the twins… In fact, the name Cordelia came from the Greek island Delos, from Delia."
Cordelia was giving him a funny look. "How the *hell* do you know all that, Wes? You're as bad as Angel." She looked over at Spike. "Anything you want to add, Blondie?"
"I'm not as *old* as Angel. And not as *sad* as Wesley. I'm still trying to work out how the bloody subject went from you being adopted to bloody Greek gods!"
Cordelia had to smile at how blunt he was being. She wondered what this had got to do with her heating and cooling water. Hey, she didn't even know why her being adopted was a thing - she wasn't demon or anything cuz Buffy would've known even when she didn't!
"They've lost me too!" She told the blonde vampire as she went and stood next to him.
"Actually, Angel. Would you mind telling me what brought Artemis and Apollo up? And what it has got to do with anything?" Wesley questioned, sitting at the table with coffee he had obviously just made.
"I read somewhere years and years ago, of someone called the Blessed Salient One, who would stop some evil god taking over, I can't remember the exact details, but, it said they were to be half god themselves, while also half mortal. The Salient One was to have extreme powers, just like a god, and as strong as a god, but, technically they would be mortal. The Salient One was to have many, many different powers, but there was three things certain they would have; the power to heal; the gift of prophecy's; and finally a connection to the oracles, especially the oracle at Delphi. It didn't say anything about Apollo, but thinking about it now, ... Apollo taught mortals how to heal, Apollo was a primarily a god of prophecy, and Delphi was the site of Apollo's victory over the Python for the oracle there."
"So the Salient One would have a connection to Apollo?"
Angel nodded. "I'm thinking that possibly Apollo would be the father of the Salient One, and the mother would be mortal, since the book said the Blessed Salient One would be half mortal."
"But, what has that got to do -"
"Cordelia. - The name. It originated from Delos, where Apollo and his sister were born."
"So you think Cordelia is the Salient One? - Angel, that's ridiculous! Cordelia is just a name!" Wes looked over at Cordelia. "I'm sorry to have to ask this, Cordelia, but, am I right in thinking Cordelia was your adopted name?"
"Yeah. My real mom called me Amy."
"See, Angel. I don't see -"
"Firstly, Cora has visions – *prophecies*. That's one of the three things the Salient One has, the rest could be yet to come..." He turned to the leggy brunette. "Cora, could you phone your parents and ask them why they named you Cordelia?"
"Angel, I'm with Wesley. There must be a zillion girls out there called Cordelia, besides, I wasn't even called Cordelia from the start. I was an Amy!"
"Please, Cordelia. I just need to know *why* they finally decided on that. What was wrong with Amy?"
"I told you! Jeez, weren't you listening - my mom thought it was too common!"
"Cordelia, please -"
She swung her arms out in frustration. "Fine! I'll do it." She marched to the phone.
"My parents are gonna be so mad for this!" She told them as she dialled. "I mean, it's six o'clock in the morning!" She then glared at the former watcher "- Which reminds me, I've had no sleep thanks to all of your questions, Wesley."
The rouge demon hunter muttered an apology, not wanting to be on her bad side.
She tapped her foot impatiently. "It's ringing." She informed them.
"OH! Hi mom!"
She frowned. "Cordelia, y'know your daughter - the only person in the world that would greet you with 'mom'." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I know. Sorry. It's just I have a really *pesky* friend who wants to know why you named me what you did...."
"I know! I think he must be doing an essay for college on why people name their kids what they do or something...."
"You can't remember, how can you not remember -"
She paused for quite awhile. Shock on her face.
"Mom, are you *sure*?"
"Does daddy remember it too?"
"Oh. OK. Sorry for calling so early -" She stared at the phone in her hands for a moment.
Cordelia slammed the phone down. "Oh, and how are you darling? How's your life? We love you." She said sourly.
She then turned to the three men looking at her anxiously.
"So?" Wesley prodded.
"So, she said something that made me ditch sticking with you and make me believe Angel's theory."
"What did she say?" Angel asked urgently.
"You want the whole of our really *short* conversation or just the weird bit?"
Angel gave her a look.
"Fine OK. She said when the adoption lady came over with me, she suggested Cordelia, and listed like a zillion things why it was a good name. Now the really freaky part is that the adoption lady who dropped me off at my new home, was called Sandra. Sandra *Artemis*. - This Apollo guy's twin sister... Now, I do believe in coincidences and all, but come on, to say *that* was one, is stretching it a little."
"She *really* said that?"
"Huh - uh, and my dad remembers it too. - Wait a minute, if it was this chick Artemis, well, isn't she supposed to be dead, *and* if Apollo is the father of this Salient One, which you reckon is me, does that mean I'm like half goddess? - Cuz that would be *so* cool!"
"They would be able to come down to earth, Cordy, and if I'm right, and you are the Blessed Salient One, don't think it's so cool. The reason the Salient One is here is to defeat some all-powerful, evil god. So if it is you, well..."
"Hey, you know you said about my visions linking in with the Salient One having prophecies, well, not all my visions are prophecies, and well, Doyle gave me them, didn't he?"
"Doyle always said he was the messenger to give *me* the news on the visions. That was part of my atonement, but what if he was just told that, and he was really a messenger in the sense he was to deliver the visions to you in a way we would think as logical, until you were ready for your powers!"
Cordelia sighed. "I get you. But that isn't very nice for them to do that to Doyle. And The Powers That Be gave him the visions, so.. ugh! This is frustrating!"
"Angel, I would normally insist that we could get to the bottom of this on our own, but well, we must find out all we can about the Salient One to see if it is in fact Cordelia. Therefore, shall I call Giles and inform him of our predicament?" Wesley asked the eldest vampire.
"Yes. In fact, tell him that if they're not to busy with some demon, could we have everyone in Sunnydale researching this. - Anything on Artemis and Apollo and whatever can be related to them in some way. Also, we'll need to find that prophecy I remember. Ask Giles if he's ever read anything similar."
Wesley nodded. "I'll do it in the office." He called over his shoulder as he headed to the elevator.
"Y'know how you said Doyle was given visions from the PTB for your redemption?" Cordelia suddenly asked thoughtfully. " - Well, what if the visions aren't your redemption? I mean, Doyle was the delivery boy," she cringed as she said it, not wanting it to be true, "and the visions were always meant for me. Now, because Doyle was told to go to *you*, he assumed that you were who the visions were for, and the PTB must've said something about you working for redemption. Depending on how it was Doyle got all that info, he could've taken it two ways. The first, that being a 'delivery- boy' was passing on what he saw in the visions to you, helping you work for your redemption. That was the way he thought it was all about, but what if it wasn't?"
Angel just looked at her blankly.
"If it *was* the other way, then Doyle being a 'delivery-boy', his only job was to give me the visions, and the part about you working for redemption, well, since we're talking Greek here, 'Angel' in Greek, from what I remember from Nanny number fifteen, Anna, is Angelos. And I *think* that means messenger, right? So the PTB *might* have meant that your redemption was to be *my* messenger. - Oh, no, a messenger for what? Ugh! - Just forget I said all that!"
"Oh, my God!" Angel gasped. "It makes perfect sense now you have pointed it out! You have two things out of the three! Don't you get it? - Because you are still half mortal, you can't go into see any oracles ever. - But I can! Angelos does mean messenger in Greek, so I'm *your* connection to the oracle in Delos! The visions are your prophecies, the only thing missing is the healing, and we could test that out easily if I just -" He had grabbed a knife off the counter and held it to his arm.
"Angel - no!" Cordelia squealed, and dashed forward to stop him.
Spike got there first and snatched the knife from Angel. "Are you bloody insane? - OW!" He yelled as the knife grazed his the palm of his hand as he seized it from his Sire.
Angel had to grin. "Thanks, Spike. Now I won't have to do it myself."
Spike held his hand out to Cordy. "Do something! Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Cordelia grabbed his hand, and flinched as some blood dripped onto her. "Some big bad vamp you are! And like I'm supposed to know what to do!" She cried out.
"When you turned cold coffee into hot, you said you had *wished* it to happen - well, do it now!" Angel cried at her.
"Fine." She didn't appreciate being shouted at under pressure.
She clasped her hand over Spike's roughly, "ow! Bloody hell!" and made a face as she did so, knowing she had just willing put her hand in blood.
"Eeew! Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"
"Cordelia!" Spike yelled.
"Would you stop being such a baby! God anyone would think you were ten not one-hundred and whatever!"
"One-hundred and twenty-six. Now would you bloody get on with it!"
"Y'know it's kinda hard to wish you didn't have a cut on your hand while wanting to strangle you!" She bit back heatedly.
"Both of you calm down. Cordelia, concentrate. And Spike, let her concentrate!" Angel yelled to stop the squabbling.
They both turned to him. "And what about you, Broody-boy?" Cordelia shot him an icy glare.
"Yeah! *You* don't seem to be letting her bloody concentrate!" Spike added.
Cordelia pulled her tongue out at him before turning back to Spike. "OK. Here we go."
She sighed and closed her eyes. Concentrating on her breathing.
"Shit." Angel whispered loudly from amazement.
Cordelia's eyes shot open. "What?"
"Your hand was making a white light." Spike told her. "Do more - the Poof interrupted before it could actually do any bloody healing!" He glared at Angel.
"Ugh!" Cordelia grunted, before closing her eyes again and wishing Spike's hand was patched up.
She heard Spike suck his breath in, which she found odd since he didn't need to breathe. So she opened her eyes and looked across at him to see if he was OK, she didn't want to hurt him when she was supposed to be healing him!
Spike noticed her looking at him, and looked directly back at her, she watched as his mouth dropped and sported a purely amazed look.
"Spike? You OK?" She whispered. Hoping, and wishing he truly was. She blinked. "Spike?"
He broke his gaze from her, and looked down at their interlinked hands. He pulled his apart from hers and looked down at it.
Angel and Cordy watched as his eyebrows raised, and he nodded his head. "Cool. You healed me." He showed them his hand. "Angel, did you see her eyes when she looked at me? They were glowing a short of purple color, and it was that moment, when I was looking at her, and she was staring back at me, my hand stopped hurting."
Angel was inspecting his hand. "No, her eyes looked normal to me, but her hand *was* making your hand glow." He told his childe.
He looked over at Cordy. "How did that feel?" He asked moving towards her.
"I feel really weak." She whispered, and slowly lowered herself into a chair. "And dizzy."
Angel placed his cool hand onto her forehead. "Very hot." He muttered to himself. "Um, Cora, if this is what happens all the time when you heal someone, I'm only letting you do it in extreme cases. And -"
"Angel!" Wesley cried as he came running down the stairs. Breathlessly he continued. "Giles knows of the book you spoke of, in fact he's sure he has it in his collection and remembers reading that this evil God would rise through the Hellmouth, but he couldn't remember when..." Wesley slowed down a little. "There's more; Xander. He was patrolling with Buffy and they came across a demon. It burned and badly beat Buffy before she killed it, but Xander not being a slayer got seriously injured, at the moment he's stable, but there's an eighty percent chance he might die. They are not really concentrating on anything but watching over him, in fact I just caught Giles before he was about to return to the hospital."
Angel opened his mouth to speak, but didn't get a chance.
Cordelia shot up, though feeling a little woozy still. "Take me to Sunnydale, Angel." She said urgently.
And although Angel wasn't that keen on Xander and knew that if he was stable, there would be no need to rush to Sunnydale, but he also knew that even though Cordelia wasn't with Xander anymore, he was still a friend and he still had a place in her heart.
The vampire didn't argue with the young woman.
~*~
Go on to part SEVENTEEN