"Nothing in the world is the way it oughta be. It's harsh, and cruel.
But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from,
what we've done, or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live
as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be."
Angel, Deep Down
--
"Bethany."
Angel's cool palm rested on the forehead of the telekinetic, eyebrows knit together in concern as he stared into the glassy eyes, lips pursing together. "She's burning with fever."
Cordelia had her eyes trained on the monitor as she answered. "Well, Sherlock, she's been stuck in a hell dimension for the past couple weeks, she'd be a little hot, yeah."
"We can't put her back into that desk, Cordelia."
Moving from her place on the chair to join him in kneeling in front of the telekinetic, Cordelia studied Beth with a soft gaze, moving gentle palms over the pale skin.
"We have to get her to a hospital," she said finally. "I don't want to think about what Skip did to her." And she really didn't. He could see it in her eyes, the way her gaze averted, eyes darkening at the thought of her demon guide. It hurt her, then, to think he could be this cruel, to believe that Skip, the person who was responsible for her transformation, and for her regression, could hurt another human being to this magnitude.
"I'm fine," Bethany stirred underneath Cordelia's fingertips, glassy-eyed as she glanced up at the couple kneeling over her. "Where's Lindsey?"
"He's okay," Cordelia said immediately, smile tight and not altogether sincere, palm sliding onto Angel's bicep and squeezing hard. "Rest, okay? We'll be outta here soon."
Keeping her grip on the vampire firm, Cordelia pulled him up, leading him to the corner of the room, hands on her hips as she took in a shaky breath.
"We're running out of time."
"I know."
Cordelia trained her gaze on the open portals. It used to be so easy to shut them, close them so not even Champions could open it. Now, it took concentration, as the former Higher Being focused, took in an uneven breath.
"What have you got on the character of witness?"
Turning with a grim smile, Cordelia shrugged, striding to the small monitor and turning it into Angel's direction. "Okay, I guess. Not great." She let him glance over it, dark eyes on the screen as he quickly read. Cordelia watched him, suddenly distracted when a thought lodged in her head. "Where'd Douglas go?"
"Oh, he left," Angel said immediately, eyes zigzagging across the screen.
"Oh." Cordelia blinked. "Did he say he was coming back?"
"What? Yeah," Angel said dismissively, straightening up as he crossed his arms, breathing out a long, uncharacteristic sigh. "Cordelia."
She looked immediately concerned. "What? Is it not good?"
"It's beautiful. But do you believe it?" The sharp statement caused her to glance, and when her roving eyes flickered over his, he caught and held them in his own stare. She looked lost, not quite sure what he meant. Angel didn't say a word, continued to search her face for any indication that she understood. It was a tactic he had used before, in their married years, a stare that spoke more than words could ever say.
"Don't worry," she finally said stiffly, "I'll get the job done."
"But do you believe it?"
She froze, the glare she tossed in his direction a direct indication of just how deeply the words struck her, a lunge to her heart when she finally got it with an indrawn hiss.
He knew that he had her. He had the admission, because if she believed in what she wrote, if she truly understood the ramifications of what she was standing up for in the character of witness for Bethany, then he knew there was no way she could walk away.
Cordelia did not believe in lying. Although she was sometimes brilliant at being able to fool herself and the others around her, once she faced the truth, she never walked away from it, no matter what the consequences. She had fooled herself for years into believing she did not love him. It had taken her less than five minutes to decide otherwise. The trick was getting her to face herself.
Instead she faced him, looked him straight in the eye, and answered coldly, "It doesn't matter."
"You know it does."
"Bite me."
"Cordelia-"
"HEY! Who locked the door!"
The impending argument was cut short at the voice now drifting in from outside one of the closed dimensional portals. Cordelia's eyes widened. Immediately, she folded the laptop down, covering it from sight, shifting a glance at Bethany before moving toward Angel.
"That's Marksopholus."
"Who?"
"Marksy." Her whisper now became a hiss, motioning wildly to Bethany's corner. "That's his desk."
Oh. There was a shift now, a refusal to panic that he knew Cordelia must have appreciated, as he nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Okay. Get her in the desk. I'll take care of it."
"Angel-"
"Just go."
So she did, helping Bethany up and once again squeezing the girl in the desk as carefully as she could. Bethany was wide-eyed, close to panic, but, thanks to Cordelia, he suspected, largely in control of her faculties. Otherwise, by now he and Cordelia would have been impaled by the many different weapons.
"Angel." Cordelia almost hobbled over on her high heels. "He's a nice guy. Don't kill him."
"I can't believe you'd think I would kill the guy." One perfectly shaped eyebrow arched. It was her 'don't bullshit me' face, and he found himself flushing against it. "Fine. I won't kill him."
"I wonder where Connor gets his homicidal tendencies from."
The dry reply didn't faze him.
"HEY! What's up with the door!"
"Do it." Nodding, Cordelia took in an unsteady breath and plastered a smile on her face, waving her arm over the door, unlocking the portal with a few breathed words.
A blue-skinned demon nearly fell in. "Hey! What's the big deal with shutting the door like..." Marksy trailed off when he found himself face to face with Angel. "Oh... hey, Angel!" Shaking his hand politely, Marksy gave the taller vampire a toothy grin. "Angel! Good to see you here! What're you doin' down here."
"Oh, you know me, Marksy. The minute Cordy calls, I come running."
"He's an idiot that way," Cordelia remarked, shooting him a look that was clearly meant to be interpreted as 'You're Insane'. He cocked an eyebrow, sending the gaze right back.
She rolled her eyes in response. Cordelia's pose was intentionally casual. She crossed her legs, the dark skirt sliding open delicately to reveal in long, tan leg. Her foot rocked back and forth, encased in tan heels that she had learned to run and fight and ...
Angel nearly reeled with the memory of the shoes, of her whispers in his ear as she scraped teeth against the underside of his jaw, heels digging into his thighs as she thrust with him-
Those heels.
The gaze was smoldering when she glanced at him again, and she was caught off-guard by it, more than likely completely unaware of the flash of the hot memory, or the effect it had on him. She pushed off the desk, sauntered past him with the scent of lilacs and Douglas, and smiled at Marksy.
"How's the lawyer hunting?"
"He's a wiry little fellow. Just came back to get the crossbow. Figured we could maim him, trip him or something-"
Lilacs and Douglas, the rush of blood flowing through her veins and the sound of her heart beating, breath flowing through her body in the beautiful miracle of life that fed beasts like him, forced them to believe in a world where they could belong, in a world with a sun he never saw and a wife who had left him because of a mission she didn't believe in – except she did, and-
The fist came out of nowhere, snapping with a power he hadn't used in a while, a frustration personified in the punch that whipped across Marksy's face.
Cordelia's gasp wasn't lost on Angel as the demon fell to the floor, unconscious.
"ANGEL!"
"Not a problem anymore, is it?" he bit, stepping over the demon knocked cold and sticking his head through the portal. "We're running out of time."
"God, you are such a slimeball sometimes, you know that?" He didn't bother to answer, left his wife standing over the demon's head, patting at him with her manicured fingernails that were oddly chipped. "I don't know why I even- wait." Angel once again turned to the monitor, Cordelia's half written character statement gleaming, white on black, monitor blinking, waiting to be finished.
Waiting for the end.
"WAIT! Did Douglas say- He said he'd be leaving on the nine o'clock flight!" Angel looked up to find Cordelia frozen into a near catatonic state, the next minute fumbling to check her watch. There was no emotion inside of him, he was oddly empty, as he watched her groan, slump down, close her eyes. "I'm never going to make it."
"No," he answered stiffly. "You're not."
There seemed no anger, just pure resignation and despair on her features as she gave a hollow, dry laugh. "Oh, God. You. You, Angel. You have just... ruined my life."
"Well, apparently I'm good at that," he snapped.
She paused, slack jawed in amazement. "Wait. So, what? NOW you're pissed? Bitter and angry all of a sudden, Passive-Aggressive Guy?!"
"No, Cordelia, I'm not bitter, or angry, I'm focused." Standing up, he gave her a dark glance. "I need you to finish this, not worry about your love life, all right?"
The angry face softened somewhat. Angel wasn't sure he knew what Cordelia was seeing when she searched his face the way she did, because his expression never changed, but just like always, she seemed to work out something on her own.
"Fine," she said evenly, carefully pushing Markey's head and shoulders off her thighs and moving toward the table, sitting down at the chair, pulling the laptop toward her.
"Thank you," he said stiffly.
"Angel," she said suddenly, hand on his wrist as she forced him to look back at her. Cordelia's mouth was pulled into an almost sympathetic half smile, a flash of hazel that recognized something she hadn't seen before. "I'm sorry I abandoned you. I'm sorry I judged you, even when I thought you had judged me."
"Cordy-"
"No, I just. I owed you at least that." Once again, she gave him that tight smile, no longer full of anger or accusations, and patting her warm hand against his jacket, she turned back to the monitor.
Something hard and painful tugged inside of him, forcing him to look away, suddenly focusing on a near portal when Faith tumbled inside.
"Angel!"
The Slayer was out of breath, panting as she glanced behind her, just as a sweaty Wesley also plowed through.
"What happened?" Angel said immediately, pushing off the table.
"Where's Mrs. Sanderson?!" That was of course, from Cordelia, the only person who actually cared.
Faith's explanation was characteristically vague. "We're in deep shit."
--
Fred Burkle felt like she was in an odd episode of Xena. She had really only seen a few episodes, but she had appreciated the campy aspect more than the darkness, and now, she wished for something of the camp sort to balance out the darkness she was feeling.
"You okay?"
"Nope," she answered nervously, flashing her boyfriend a grim smile. "You?"
"Not really digging the 'rat in a maze' feeling," he responded accordingly. "And it ain't really my thing to hanging out in hell dimensions. So, no, not really."
"We lost them again, didn't we?" Fred said, stepping toward the edge of the ledge, careful to keep her feet where she could see them. The torches hanging in the crevices provided enough flickering light to make everything look like it was moving, and being the kind of sort of girl who believed in ghosts, demons and other not-so-nice things, Fred was not one to trust that light.
Gunn seemed to foster a more 'if I don't see it, don't mean it ain't there' approach, because he confidently stepped to the corner, and leaned forward, listening intently.
"Nope, look! There he goes!"
And there he went. Fred found herself fighting a bewildered smile as Lindsey MacDonald suddenly came barreling forward on the ledge below them, whooping and hollering at the top of his lungs, stopping only to hurl things with incredible accuracy behind him with his evil hand as he continued his marathon.
The mob of demons ran after them, with their clanks and swears, nearly tripping on each other as they sped after him.
"Wow." Charles laughed, shaking his head as he caught Fred's glance with a twinkle in his eyes. "Evil Lawyer Boy can sure run."
"Born Again Ex-Lawyer," she reminded him. "Come on, we better catch up."
"Yeah, so we can catch some more of the 'the Great Escape'?" Gunn asked. "We're not doin' nothing but eatin' popcorn up here."
The thought of the movie snack brought a rumble to her stomach. "Hmm... I'd like that. You feel like going to that diner after we're done here?" she asked, slinging her crossbow over her shoulder and maneuvering around the rocks.
"You mean if we live through this and actually manage to find our way back to God's Green Earth?" She nodded happily. "Sure."
"Kay, I think I'll have the waffles. With the extra syrup! Ooh! And the chocolate shake!"
"Fred-"
The look on his face forced her to falter, grin sheepishly. "Well, maybe not, the chocolate... I could have pancakes instead!"
"Fred, shhh." Holding his hand up, Charles listened intently, keeping completely still as he moved around her. "You hear that?"
"What?" she whispered, now completely on edge as they both fell silent. Straining, she listened in the perfect quiet, and then, with a jolt of her heart, she heard it.
"This way." Immediately, she followed Gunn, pulling the crossbow from her shoulder and hefting it deftly, keeping her boyfriend covered as he moved to a section of the wall.
Studying it, her eyes widened. "It's a door!" she exclaimed. "I can't believe how we missed it."
"I still don't see it."
She gave him a distracted nod, and handing him the crossbow, she began to feel the moldings, eyes searching for the right lock, the catch, the-
*CLICK*
She smiled. "Found the click."
Stepping back, she took her crossbow and held it up, while Gunn stepped forward with his ax.
When the door opened the whole way, they were suddenly met with a flurry of blue and gold glitter, and a guy coughing as he stumbled to the floor.
--
"It's Skip and Lilah," Wesley said, shrugging off his jacket and reaching for a broadsword. "We ran into them, almost quite literally as we were escorting the elder lady-"
"And they know, man," Faith said quickly, throwing her jacket on the back of a wooden chair and scooping up her fallen dagger, hefting the weight. "They're in... you know... cahoots!"
"Cahoots!" Cordelia repeated, suddenly lost to the entire situation. Skip? And Lilah? "WHY! Why would you be in cahoots- wait a minute..." Oh, God. Cordelia's heart skipped a very audible beat as she suddenly glanced to the door. "Where's Mrs. Sanderson?!"
"We had to get out of there, so we kinda... you know..." Faith motioned with her hands, gesturing the push to Angel, who remained infuriatingly silent.
Cordelia put the finished sentence together, and for a second she could only gape. "YOU THREW HER AT THEM?!"
Wesley actually had the grace to look guilty, but Faith only shrugged. "Cordelia? The lady is seriously annoying, okay?"
"Oh, my GOD," Cordelia whispered, the mantra suddenly exploding from her as she began to pace. "You might have just KILLED HER!"
"Angel, while Cordelia goes into hysterics, perhaps we should worry about the fact that they know we're here, and are more than likely following us," Wesley spoke matter-of-factly, ignoring Cordelia's rant as Faith blinked at her.
"Relax, 'C. They won't kill her. She's got nothing to do with this!" Whirling, Cordelia grabbed onto the Slayer's shoulders, eyes growing round.
"DO you REALIZE what you've done?! She's going to hate me!"
"Cordelia, she hated you when you left her son to rot in jail," Faith said flatly, shrugging off the blubbering Seer. "We gotta set up something, Angel. Any minute they're going to be- THERE SHE GOES!"
Immediately, Angel dashed forward, managing to cut in front of Cordelia just as she was about to rush into the corridor. "Cordelia, NO. We need you here-"
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, you un-dead, crazy, vampire!" Cordelia's eyes were round with panic, so frazzled from the events, and the high tension she was near hysterics.
"Cordelia, I need you to-"
"I'm serious, Angel, get out of my way. Throwing away an innocent woman's life was NOT part of the deal!"
The fury in Cordelia's eyes was very, very real, a flash in the hazel that caused a boiling of blood. It was a danger signal, and Angel must have seen it. He gave her a slow, small nod, and the hands fell down.
"She's not dead," he said.
"How the hell can you promise me that?" she whispered. "Angel..." Her eyes closed, dangerously close to spilling with tears as she managed, "I dragged her into this, this is my fault..."
"Cordelia..."
Suddenly, she was buried in his arms, closing her eyes as she held him tightly, the sword she was carrying clanging against the stone wall as she returned his desperate embrace. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't damned fair-
"WOAHAHAHAHHAHAH!"
She jumped, pushing away from Angel as she whirled, just in time to yelp when a figure launched into the room, crashing into the table and landing a heap on the floor.
"Lindsey?!"
Lindsey looked a little bloody, a lot tired, but oddly happy as he stumbled to his feet, hands flailing wildly when Wesley and Faith came up to support him.
"Wow," he said, voice husky with loss of breath. "That was unreal."
"Lindsey," Angel barked. "What happened."
"Oh, they're after me. I managed to lose them, but they're right on top of me."
Cordelia's mind immediately snapped into place, sharing a look with Angel before she glanced at the open door. "We have to take them," she told him. "Hold them off until we can get them out of here."
"Get Bethany out of that desk. Hurry." Pushing up the roll away up, Angel grabbed Bethany by the shoulders, and deposited the dazed girl neatly into Lindsey's arms.
Cordelia struggled for breath, the anticipating causing a lump in a throat that was mingled with fear. With a rush of air pushed out of her mouth, she found another portal, and quickly unlocked it, revealing a dark passage. When she turned, she found Faith and Wesley staring. There was no pride, or anger, or smirks, or masks. Instead, there was a uniform expression, that of a warrior. Of a Champion, each holding onto their own lost soul. They would gladly give their lives for something as simple as this.
The realization twisted into her soul.
"Take them," she ordered. "Through the portal and hide. If they come after them, guard them with everything you have. We'll figure this out."
"Better, Cor," Faith said, already moving as she pushed Bethany and Lindsey with her. "Not lookin' to die tonight."
"Yeah, me either," she muttered back. The portal closed after them, and suddenly they were alone, in the Pressroom, which had somehow become stifling hot in the midst of all of this.
"We've been through worse than this." The line was hopeful, encouraging, and so ANGEL, and so NOT Angel that it made her smile, glance at him with a twisted emotion she for once, didn't fight. She needed it, just then.
"It's always about desks," she whispered. All it took was one sentence, and they both remembered. A desk, laughter, and love.
The demons came in the middle of the glance, bursting the dream and letting reality settle in.
"WHERE is he?!" Miller breathed, limping as he brandished a club, seething smoke as he glared wildly around the room.
"Not here, obviously," Cordelia snapped, moving around the group of panting Champions, smiling tightly. "Not very good at your job, are you?"
"Cordelia! Where the hell are they?"
"If I knew, you think I'd be standing here?!" she barked. "Keep looking, boys."
"She's lying," Bugsy glared. "She knows where they are."
"Leave her the hell alone, you overgrown mosquito." Angel's words were said in the tone of a vampire, with a growling hostility, and a threatening glower.
"Angel," Miller stood straight and tall, for once, trying to keep his head. "You know we're all on the same side here. We're just doing our job."
"And I'm just doing mine," Angel responded. "With my mission. My job. My seer. My prerogative."
"Our mission, too. Our bosses."
"Keep looking," Angel ground out, keeping Cordelia behind him as he focused on Miller, dark eyes sending a scathing glare. "You got nothing."
The tension was palatable, but Angel was right, and Miller knew it. It took a second for him to back off, motion with a jerk of his head back to where they came from.
"Let's go, double back."
Cordelia held her breath, waiting with her shuddering heart for the moment where she could slump against Angel in relief, bring Faith and Wes and Gunn and Fred back and get the hell outta there.
And it was almost there, she could feel it, as one by one, the Champions stepped into the portal, fully prepared to continue their chase.
And then Mrs. Sanderson walked into the room.
"THERE!" She barked. The woman looked a mess. Hair was now messily piled on top of her head, there were ashes on her cheek and smudges of dirt around her ruined stockings, and yet she still managed to retain her characteristic haughtiness as she pointed triumphantly at Angel and Cordelia. "They had her in the desk! I saw them!"
The relief that never came was now coupled with unwound tension that nearly made her explode when Skip and Lilah walked through the portal. One by one, the Champions turned back.
All eyes were on her and Angel now, the two champions surrounded by their colleagues and their enemies as Skip came forward, the low scowl on his face never so real.
"You hid her. Deliberately."
Angel smiled. A smirk eerily reminiscent of Angelus graced his features, arms crossed as he stepped forward, facing Skip head on. "Prove it."
"I saw them!" Mrs. Sanderson screeched. "She and that vampire! They held her in that desk!"
"Cordelia..." Skip's head was tilted. "You've been playing a very dangerous game."
There he stood, her demon guide, soulless and evil, and entirely right.
"Yeah," she agreed softly. "I have. But at least this time I'm ready to follow through."
"Check the desk," Miller ordered, pointing a long finger nail at both the vampire and the Seer. "You two better stay where you are."
"DAD! I didn't kill them, but they're all knocked out and-" Connor paused, skidding to a stop as he suddenly blinked, taking in the taller demons that surrounded his father and Cordelia. "What's going on?"
"Typical climatic confrontation," Cordelia responded, the look of fear on Connor's face, not for his own safety, but for theirs, suddenly so heartwrenching that she felt the immediate urge to remove it. So she smiled, the grin she used to give him that would make him smile back, and winked. "We've been through worse."
"Have you met my kid, guys?" Angel asked. "The Destroyer?"
"If the kid knows what's good for his father, he'll stay where he is," Skip ordered. "Check the desk."
Cordelia felt her breath catch, deliberately keeping her body closer to Angel. Her body heat was rising, a dead give-away to the animalistic senses of the Champions around them. Angel's body temperature was cooler, and she needed it.
She waited, the room silent as the champions moved carefully to the desk, every so slowly, weapons carefully tilted toward the desk.
Not a word was said when the desk was lifted, until they saw who fell out.
"MARKSY!?"
The groggy bug-like demon gave everyone a blinking glance, trying to keep everyone in focus.
The moment the attention was off them, Angel moved. Launching over a chair, Angel swiped his sword, and kicked it up, sending it in a spinning arc to Cordelia before sweeping up an axe.
With a twist and a lean, Cordelia caught it, swinging the blade in a wide arc, flashing in the flickering lamps before it landed on Lilah's neck.
"Okay," she said, voice cracking slightly as she kept the blade even, the entire room now at a stand still as more than ten Champions stood in the room against just her, Angel, and Connor. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
"Cordelia," Skip's voice was almost apologetic. "I don't want to kill you. Just give us the girl, and-"
"And what?" she said. "Kill her? Damn her? The way I damned him?! No, Skip. NO. I'd rather die than do that again."
"You just might."
"You touch her, Skip," Angel interjected softly, stock still in the middle of the room, carefully keeping his gaze on Miller, the demon closest to him, club ready to move. "I'll kill you."
Lilah took an unsteady breath, valiantly trying to remain still while the sword remained on her skin. Mrs. Sanderson continued to watch wide-eyed, slumped in the chair, panic written clearly on her face.
"Angel. You're dead already. You have nothing left." Skip crossed his arms, narrowing his arms. "Cordelia, one more chance."
"You don't get any more chances," she whispered, hazel eyes dark and flashing. "I'm done listening to you, Skip. I'm doing listening to any choices, or any tests, and I'm not going to damn her. Not like this."
"Then we'll kill you."
"Then you'll die," she responded stiffly.
"Cordelia," Angel began uneasily.
"Angel? I already told them. They could do this the easy way, or the hard way."
When a Champion broke and dove for Cordelia, she wasn't wholly unprepared, but she wasn't ready to take it, either. He jerked forward with a growl and a flash of his tail, and Cordelia couldn't quite turn fast enough, the cry coming from Angel barely out of his mouth when suddenly Al was jerked back and flung against the wall by some unseen force.
The desk rattled, wind flowed, and suddenly there stood Bethany, eyes blazing with determination and anger.
"All right. We're going to make this simple," she began stiffly, pushing away from Lindsey as the lawyer tried to hold her back, moving past Faith and Wesley, who each stepped into the room with their respective weapons, pure fury on their faces. "I don't want to die, but I'm not letting them die for me. So, I figure, you guys can all die instead-"
"NO ONE has to die," Cordelia barked. "NO ONE. Just let her go, Skip, until we can face the trial. That's all I'm asking for."
"You don't ask for these things, Cordelia," Skip said angrily. "And you know why."
Cordelia closed her eyes, and took a long, unsteady breath. When her eyes opened, she flashed a smile. "Fine. The hard way. Mrs. Sanderson? Watch your head."
The sidekick caught Lilah in the face, bringing the lawyer down as the blade twirled almost too quickly to be seen.
Skip caught the arc with a clang. "You sure you want to do this? Go against the Powers, against the mission, against all you believed in, to save one girl?"
She smiled. "This is what I believe in. I light up like a Christmas tree just thinking about it."
The light jolted from her hand, searing as it caught Skip, and sent him flying back with a grunt against the wall.
That's what started it, and suddenly Champion caught against Champion, the room erupting in a full out brawl-
All for one little soul.
And this time, Cordelia wasn't quite sure if it was hers or Bethany's they were fighting for.
--
END CHAPTER