Title: Loose Ends
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize belong to Joss & co. (all hail the crackhead). I'm just fooling around with his universe, with no intention of making money or anything.
Classification: Buffy-Angel crossover
Rating: PG13
Feedback: Yes, please! Doesn't everyone want it?
Email: janemccartney@bol.com.br
Distribution: Anywhere, I don't mind, just credit me and inform me where it's at.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Theo, who actually made this project a viable one with his amazing and wonderful work - I'm truly grateful for your help with the English grammar and all the necessary adaptations. You're my savior.
Note: This is my very first attempt at fan fiction, and English is definitely not my native language, so I'd be happy if you guys didn't go too hard on me - please. I'm just doing the best I can here.
Summary: [Buffy-Angel Crossover] Xander shows up in Los Angeles, and brings with him a secret that'll lead him into dangerous territory. Can he cope with that? And his friends, will they be there for him?
***
Cordelia was getting annoyed - it was like so obvious that Xander was hiding something, but he still refused to admit it.
Real 'Xander' kind of behavior on his part - and stupid behavior, at that.
She understood him better than he knew, that was for sure. And, even after all this time away from almost any connection with Sunnydale - a.k.a. the Hellmouth - seeing Xander seemed to reconnect old memories, from the inside of her buried thoughts.
The ones she usually avoided, whenever the topic of Sunnydale came up in her new life. Now, those same memories were hitting Cordelia somehow even stronger than she'd ever thought they could.
"This is too strange for me, you know? Suddenly you're here, and everything that you say - it seems, like, complete bull. I think you're tryin' to hide something very bad from us, Xander. I just hope that, no matter what it is, it'll stay at least 200 feet away from me or any of my friends."
The brunette sent a good stare onto her former enemy, and later boyfriend. "And I'll get real angry if it's something you knew about all along."
"You don't wanna see her angry, man, believe me. I mean it..." Gunn's words came with a mocking grin, that instantly made Cordelia grow angry with her friend's statement.
"I think I know exactly what you're talking about," Xander replied with a grin, keeping his eyes locked onto the brunette who sent another murderous glance at the as-yet strange guy.
"Cordy," Xander's voice became in serious in tone, "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you guys I was coming. Never crossed my mind, ya know? But it isn't a problem this time, no Armageddon or anything like that."
She's gonna believe it, right?
"I don't believe you, Xander."
Damn it!
"Look, Xander. I'm sorry too. But it's just that..." Cordelia seemed to be searching for the right words to say, "Not to sound grandma, but you guys from Sunnydale, you never call, write or just drop by. The only time lately, it's been Willow - and that was to tell us... and that was a hell of a time for Angel, he got all spacey with...you know what, alright?"
"You can say it, Cordy. Buffy's death." Xander's eyes met hers.
"Yeah, right. That. So, I'm thinking that I just got scared when I first saw you. That's all. Sorry, OK?"
The young woman avoided his eyes this time. Fred, Gunn and Wesley were silently staring at the other two faces in the lounge, exchanging looks amongst themselves.
"Wait - is Cordelia Chase really apologizing to me? L.A., huh? Gotta love this city."
The brunette sent him an annoyed glance. "You're a real ass, Harris."
"Me? Well, you're - you're such a moron, Chase."
"Jerk!"
"Tramp!"
"And I cannot imagine why I suddenly feel the onset of 'déjà vu'," Wesley commented ironically, then focusing his attention on his feet as he walked to the other side of the hotel's lounge.
Cordelia and Xander were less than a meter away from each other, glaring intensely when the girl abruptly started to scream, the vision blasting into her mind.
The visitor from Sunnydale caught the seer almost immediately, putting his arms around her back and pulling Cordelia up so she'd not hit her head on a nearby desk.
"Cordy, are you OK?" Xander's voice showed true concern.
"She's OK, Xander, I can assure you," Wesley said calmly, while he and Gunn finished resting Cordelia on the closer chair.
The girl tried to win back her breath. "Boy, that was a strong one, huh?" She looked at Xander's scared face. "You didn't know about this?"
"It's the vision thing, right? It's just that I've never been with you before, ya know, when something like that happens. You sure you're OK?"
She grinned. "I didn't know you cared so much, Xander."
He replied with a murderous glance, "You're unbelievable."
"So?" Gunn looked concerned at the moment. "What is it this time?"
"Three - no, four vampires, two students. A boy and a girl, both about 16 years old I guess. We still have a few minutes - wait, it's near Lorne's bar Caritas, so we gotta go now!"
Cordelia got up in a second, winning strange looks from everyone in the lounge. She didn't give anyone a chance to stop her. "I know you guys don't like me going with you after a vision, but it'll be hard this time and you three know about that, right?"
"I'll get the stakes and everything else we'll need, OK? But I don't think it's a good idea you coming with us," Charles Gunn stated.
Cordelia was about to retaliate against Gunn's statement, but the man had already left the lounge.
"Where's Deadboy, anyway?"
Cordelia, Fred and Wesley stared at Xander. "Isn't he supposed to go out and hunt these things with you guys? Ya know, his quest for redemption and all that. Buffy told me something along those lines anyway, I'm pretty sure."
"Well, Angel is a bit - off, right now. He faced a demon last night, and he'll need some time to recover. Just one or two nights, it's an ancient spell that puts the enemy to sleep. Fortunately, Gunn and myself finished off the demon without Angel's help. We've just lost him for the next two nights." Wesley seemed proud to relate their victory over the peculiar demon.
"God, I cannot remember how long it's been since I last heard that stupid nickname you gave Angel," Cordelia's face parted into a mocking grin.
Both Wesley and Fred shared curious and at the same time funny glances, at Cordelia's reaction of her friend's sudden re-entrance into her life.
On the other hand, Xander seemed serious about this particular subject - another thing that the group didn't spot.
"Is he here?"
Xander's question surprised Wesley and Cordelia. When the dark-haired young man understood that fact, he instantly tried to cover it up with his habitual behavior. "Ya know, I'd just hate to meet him in the hallways without any warning - and my money says he thinks the same way I do. In fact, I'm 100 % sure of it. He still wears those 'I'm-the-ultimate- mysterious-guy' black clothes, huh?"
Damn it. He was so babbling.
"He wears blue now! And other colors too! And - he also smiles. Sometimes," Cordelia's voice adopted a sudden protective tone.
Great! She hadn't noticed his babbling this time, and he could go on with...wait, smiles? Angel, smiling? What the hell is happening in this crazy world?
Xander knew he could face ugly demons and even a...well, sort of a musical day, but Angel plus smile equals smiling Angel? OK, that was too strange.
"Alright, now you're gonna tell me that he also sings and - wait. He can also walk in the sunlight too, right?" Xander's voice was full of irony and incredulity, which actually irritated Cordelia.
"Well, the sun part happened twice! If another world counts, anyway. And his voice isn't exactly Frank Sinatra's, but he can also handle himself in that department! I guess...OK, not really..."
She paused for an instant. "But now he's so far away from what he was back in Sunnydale, it's not funny. And you know I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true," the brunette girl stepped back triumphantly, after she finished her short speech.
"He also made a joke last week. A funny one!" Wesley accomplished, equally protective.
"And he knows how to prepare delicious eggs too," said Fred, not really knowing exactly why they were standing up for Angel against this boy, but liking the fact that they were doing it.
Cordelia was ready for any kind of joke or retaliation from Xander; but instead, the young man was filled with a sudden sadness that she couldn't exactly decipher. Something the seer could easily affirm was there, though, settled deeply in Xander's eyes.
At that moment, Gunn entered the lounge with a bag full of stakes, crossbows and bottles of holy water. The vampire hunter grabbed one of the weapons, an oddly shaped stake.
"Can we go now?" His features looked exactly like the ones of a fearless fighter.
"We were just waiting for ya. Let's go kill some bad guys!" Cordelia pretended she didn't see the concerned looks from her friends, and made her way to the Hyperion hotel's front door.
"Tough girl. Stubborn one too," exclaimed Gunn in Xander's direction, while he was running to the hotel's exit followed by both Fred and Wesley. "By the way, I'm Gunn. It was nice to meet one of Cordelia's Sunnydale friends!"
"Fred!!!" screamed the Texan girl, already outside.
"You're not coming with us? We could actually use a little help," questioned Cordelia, turning around before going out the door.
"Sorry, gotta make a few calls," replied Xander, with a nervous grin.
"Coward," muttered the brunette, a second before she left to join the other three and then leave with them on her vision quest.
The silence then took over the Hyperion hotel, and every little detail of the place now seemed dark and bizarre to Xander's eyes. With the Angelites gone, he quickly started to find himself breathless once again.
While taking a picture out of his jacket pocket, he rested against one of the residence's walls. In the photograph, a smiling Dawn was hugging her sister Buffy, while Tara and Willow shared a soulful embrace.
Giles was at the desk, and he and his precious Anya were on the other side, faking Hollywood noir kind of looks into the camera.
Why me?
It was the only question that came into his mind, at this moment. The single, cruel one.
It had seemed unfair since the beginning - given that he'd probably screw everything up, like he always seemed to do.
It was truly terrifying knowing that he was actually the best bet on the table - definitely a sign that something was very wrong. Very, very wrong.
But he needed to do it, right? And it shouldn't be that hard.
OK. I'm almost convinced now, Xander thought to himself with an ironic headshake.
Cut the crap, Xandman. You got the time factor working against you, ya know? Remember that? Good. Do it now. For them. You've got to.
"It's now or never," the young man challenged himself, grabbing his bag and walking through the residence's lounge. He'd do it, and he was ready. It was now or never.
I'm walking - good, here I go. One step, another one. Wow, three steps already! Great, that's the spirit. Four, five, six steps. You can do it, Xander. Focus. You're doing amazingly well.
The young man stopped.
I guess never is an excellent choice after all.
"Pussy," Xander exclaimed, getting annoyed with himself.
He glanced at the picture one more time, and then remembered the recently departed Fang Gang. A single tear fell down his scared features.
I'm going to do it.
Xander entered the hallways, looking anxiously for the right door. He carefully opened three rooms, before he finally found the correct one.
Here it was. Angel's room.
With hesitant moves and trembling hands, Xander looked into his bag, searching for a crossbow.
He needed to kill Angel.
***
Author: Jane McCartney
Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize belong to Joss & co. (all hail the crackhead). I'm just fooling around with his universe, with no intention of making money or anything.
Classification: Buffy-Angel crossover
Rating: PG13
Feedback: Yes, please! Doesn't everyone want it?
Email: janemccartney@bol.com.br
Distribution: Anywhere, I don't mind, just credit me and inform me where it's at.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Theo, who actually made this project a viable one with his amazing and wonderful work - I'm truly grateful for your help with the English grammar and all the necessary adaptations. You're my savior.
Note: This is my very first attempt at fan fiction, and English is definitely not my native language, so I'd be happy if you guys didn't go too hard on me - please. I'm just doing the best I can here.
Summary: [Buffy-Angel Crossover] Xander shows up in Los Angeles, and brings with him a secret that'll lead him into dangerous territory. Can he cope with that? And his friends, will they be there for him?
***
Cordelia was getting annoyed - it was like so obvious that Xander was hiding something, but he still refused to admit it.
Real 'Xander' kind of behavior on his part - and stupid behavior, at that.
She understood him better than he knew, that was for sure. And, even after all this time away from almost any connection with Sunnydale - a.k.a. the Hellmouth - seeing Xander seemed to reconnect old memories, from the inside of her buried thoughts.
The ones she usually avoided, whenever the topic of Sunnydale came up in her new life. Now, those same memories were hitting Cordelia somehow even stronger than she'd ever thought they could.
"This is too strange for me, you know? Suddenly you're here, and everything that you say - it seems, like, complete bull. I think you're tryin' to hide something very bad from us, Xander. I just hope that, no matter what it is, it'll stay at least 200 feet away from me or any of my friends."
The brunette sent a good stare onto her former enemy, and later boyfriend. "And I'll get real angry if it's something you knew about all along."
"You don't wanna see her angry, man, believe me. I mean it..." Gunn's words came with a mocking grin, that instantly made Cordelia grow angry with her friend's statement.
"I think I know exactly what you're talking about," Xander replied with a grin, keeping his eyes locked onto the brunette who sent another murderous glance at the as-yet strange guy.
"Cordy," Xander's voice became in serious in tone, "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you guys I was coming. Never crossed my mind, ya know? But it isn't a problem this time, no Armageddon or anything like that."
She's gonna believe it, right?
"I don't believe you, Xander."
Damn it!
"Look, Xander. I'm sorry too. But it's just that..." Cordelia seemed to be searching for the right words to say, "Not to sound grandma, but you guys from Sunnydale, you never call, write or just drop by. The only time lately, it's been Willow - and that was to tell us... and that was a hell of a time for Angel, he got all spacey with...you know what, alright?"
"You can say it, Cordy. Buffy's death." Xander's eyes met hers.
"Yeah, right. That. So, I'm thinking that I just got scared when I first saw you. That's all. Sorry, OK?"
The young woman avoided his eyes this time. Fred, Gunn and Wesley were silently staring at the other two faces in the lounge, exchanging looks amongst themselves.
"Wait - is Cordelia Chase really apologizing to me? L.A., huh? Gotta love this city."
The brunette sent him an annoyed glance. "You're a real ass, Harris."
"Me? Well, you're - you're such a moron, Chase."
"Jerk!"
"Tramp!"
"And I cannot imagine why I suddenly feel the onset of 'déjà vu'," Wesley commented ironically, then focusing his attention on his feet as he walked to the other side of the hotel's lounge.
Cordelia and Xander were less than a meter away from each other, glaring intensely when the girl abruptly started to scream, the vision blasting into her mind.
The visitor from Sunnydale caught the seer almost immediately, putting his arms around her back and pulling Cordelia up so she'd not hit her head on a nearby desk.
"Cordy, are you OK?" Xander's voice showed true concern.
"She's OK, Xander, I can assure you," Wesley said calmly, while he and Gunn finished resting Cordelia on the closer chair.
The girl tried to win back her breath. "Boy, that was a strong one, huh?" She looked at Xander's scared face. "You didn't know about this?"
"It's the vision thing, right? It's just that I've never been with you before, ya know, when something like that happens. You sure you're OK?"
She grinned. "I didn't know you cared so much, Xander."
He replied with a murderous glance, "You're unbelievable."
"So?" Gunn looked concerned at the moment. "What is it this time?"
"Three - no, four vampires, two students. A boy and a girl, both about 16 years old I guess. We still have a few minutes - wait, it's near Lorne's bar Caritas, so we gotta go now!"
Cordelia got up in a second, winning strange looks from everyone in the lounge. She didn't give anyone a chance to stop her. "I know you guys don't like me going with you after a vision, but it'll be hard this time and you three know about that, right?"
"I'll get the stakes and everything else we'll need, OK? But I don't think it's a good idea you coming with us," Charles Gunn stated.
Cordelia was about to retaliate against Gunn's statement, but the man had already left the lounge.
"Where's Deadboy, anyway?"
Cordelia, Fred and Wesley stared at Xander. "Isn't he supposed to go out and hunt these things with you guys? Ya know, his quest for redemption and all that. Buffy told me something along those lines anyway, I'm pretty sure."
"Well, Angel is a bit - off, right now. He faced a demon last night, and he'll need some time to recover. Just one or two nights, it's an ancient spell that puts the enemy to sleep. Fortunately, Gunn and myself finished off the demon without Angel's help. We've just lost him for the next two nights." Wesley seemed proud to relate their victory over the peculiar demon.
"God, I cannot remember how long it's been since I last heard that stupid nickname you gave Angel," Cordelia's face parted into a mocking grin.
Both Wesley and Fred shared curious and at the same time funny glances, at Cordelia's reaction of her friend's sudden re-entrance into her life.
On the other hand, Xander seemed serious about this particular subject - another thing that the group didn't spot.
"Is he here?"
Xander's question surprised Wesley and Cordelia. When the dark-haired young man understood that fact, he instantly tried to cover it up with his habitual behavior. "Ya know, I'd just hate to meet him in the hallways without any warning - and my money says he thinks the same way I do. In fact, I'm 100 % sure of it. He still wears those 'I'm-the-ultimate- mysterious-guy' black clothes, huh?"
Damn it. He was so babbling.
"He wears blue now! And other colors too! And - he also smiles. Sometimes," Cordelia's voice adopted a sudden protective tone.
Great! She hadn't noticed his babbling this time, and he could go on with...wait, smiles? Angel, smiling? What the hell is happening in this crazy world?
Xander knew he could face ugly demons and even a...well, sort of a musical day, but Angel plus smile equals smiling Angel? OK, that was too strange.
"Alright, now you're gonna tell me that he also sings and - wait. He can also walk in the sunlight too, right?" Xander's voice was full of irony and incredulity, which actually irritated Cordelia.
"Well, the sun part happened twice! If another world counts, anyway. And his voice isn't exactly Frank Sinatra's, but he can also handle himself in that department! I guess...OK, not really..."
She paused for an instant. "But now he's so far away from what he was back in Sunnydale, it's not funny. And you know I wouldn't say that if it wasn't true," the brunette girl stepped back triumphantly, after she finished her short speech.
"He also made a joke last week. A funny one!" Wesley accomplished, equally protective.
"And he knows how to prepare delicious eggs too," said Fred, not really knowing exactly why they were standing up for Angel against this boy, but liking the fact that they were doing it.
Cordelia was ready for any kind of joke or retaliation from Xander; but instead, the young man was filled with a sudden sadness that she couldn't exactly decipher. Something the seer could easily affirm was there, though, settled deeply in Xander's eyes.
At that moment, Gunn entered the lounge with a bag full of stakes, crossbows and bottles of holy water. The vampire hunter grabbed one of the weapons, an oddly shaped stake.
"Can we go now?" His features looked exactly like the ones of a fearless fighter.
"We were just waiting for ya. Let's go kill some bad guys!" Cordelia pretended she didn't see the concerned looks from her friends, and made her way to the Hyperion hotel's front door.
"Tough girl. Stubborn one too," exclaimed Gunn in Xander's direction, while he was running to the hotel's exit followed by both Fred and Wesley. "By the way, I'm Gunn. It was nice to meet one of Cordelia's Sunnydale friends!"
"Fred!!!" screamed the Texan girl, already outside.
"You're not coming with us? We could actually use a little help," questioned Cordelia, turning around before going out the door.
"Sorry, gotta make a few calls," replied Xander, with a nervous grin.
"Coward," muttered the brunette, a second before she left to join the other three and then leave with them on her vision quest.
The silence then took over the Hyperion hotel, and every little detail of the place now seemed dark and bizarre to Xander's eyes. With the Angelites gone, he quickly started to find himself breathless once again.
While taking a picture out of his jacket pocket, he rested against one of the residence's walls. In the photograph, a smiling Dawn was hugging her sister Buffy, while Tara and Willow shared a soulful embrace.
Giles was at the desk, and he and his precious Anya were on the other side, faking Hollywood noir kind of looks into the camera.
Why me?
It was the only question that came into his mind, at this moment. The single, cruel one.
It had seemed unfair since the beginning - given that he'd probably screw everything up, like he always seemed to do.
It was truly terrifying knowing that he was actually the best bet on the table - definitely a sign that something was very wrong. Very, very wrong.
But he needed to do it, right? And it shouldn't be that hard.
OK. I'm almost convinced now, Xander thought to himself with an ironic headshake.
Cut the crap, Xandman. You got the time factor working against you, ya know? Remember that? Good. Do it now. For them. You've got to.
"It's now or never," the young man challenged himself, grabbing his bag and walking through the residence's lounge. He'd do it, and he was ready. It was now or never.
I'm walking - good, here I go. One step, another one. Wow, three steps already! Great, that's the spirit. Four, five, six steps. You can do it, Xander. Focus. You're doing amazingly well.
The young man stopped.
I guess never is an excellent choice after all.
"Pussy," Xander exclaimed, getting annoyed with himself.
He glanced at the picture one more time, and then remembered the recently departed Fang Gang. A single tear fell down his scared features.
I'm going to do it.
Xander entered the hallways, looking anxiously for the right door. He carefully opened three rooms, before he finally found the correct one.
Here it was. Angel's room.
With hesitant moves and trembling hands, Xander looked into his bag, searching for a crossbow.
He needed to kill Angel.
***