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?
***
Xander Harris took a brief look around him. The familiar scene was one of a beach pier he had often frequented, some granted years ago, with the same girl that was standing in front of him now; nervous hazel orbs, boring into his puzzled brown ones.
Cordelia Chase was dressed in a majestic white gown, with a favorably V- shaped neckline. The garment was interlaced at the waist by two crossed silver threads of chiffon; and her brunette hair, that was no longer short but long like in the old days, was in a ponytail - some locks graciously scattered along her soft skin.
She looks like a goddess, Xander observed, amazed. Thankfully, not a hell-bitchy brain-sucker one.
"Sooo," the dark-haired guy began uneasily. "You're some sort of spiritual ambassador now? I mean, vision thing, yeah, pfft, 'cause that was so easy to get used to," he muttered awkwardly and with an unquestionable hint of sarcasm.
"Yeah, well, it comes with the sucky job of saving your lame butt," Cordy smirked as a rebuttal.
Xander grinned playfully, "You used to say this lame butt was more than a little cute and, what was the word again? Oh right, yummy wasn't it?"
A roll of the eyes later, "Do I have to answer that, or can I just glare at you?"
"You never said it was a modest butt, after all," the dark-haired guy muttered in triumph.
Xander could swear her cheeks were blushing. "Grow up, Harris," Cordy scoffed tautly.
"Right. So, what's the deal here, Cordy? These mystical voodoo voyages are beginning to make me real dizzy," Xander said lamely.
"This is not funny, Xander," Cordelia's eyes were fixed on the floor for a moment; they seemed to carry a rueful sadness. "And neither is what I've got to tell you..."
The hazel pair of eyes came up, to meet her former boyfriend's dark ones. "There's some major badness being set up for you, Xander. Very ugly, very Hellmouth-y kind of stuff."
"Really? Why didn't I notice it sooner?" the former carpenter asked sarcastically.
"Lemme finish, you doofus! It's really important!" Cordelia cut him off, her voice somehow communicating despair - and not exactly subtly either. "Your life's in danger," she added quietly.
Xander looked straight at her, his expression unreadable yet showing bitter amazement. "Well, yeah, tell me something I don't know, Queen C," the time- traveller replied, rather harshly.
The guilt was brisk and instantaneous. "Look, Cordy, I'm sorry... I-I didn't mean it, and I know I can be a real-"
"Asshole? Jerk? Imbecile?" the brunette girl hinted helpfully, her pained expression momentarily melting into an amused one, and then back to her formerly gloomy mask.
"Something along those lines," Xander mumbled.
Suddenly, Cordelia seemed to stare off into nothingness, seeming to be utterly engaged in some kind of silent conversation with an invisible interlocutor. Xander looked around dumbly, trying to spot the supposed person she was talking to.
He found nobody.
Cordelia, noticing the Sunnydale resident's confusion, clarified, "Don't bother, I'm the only one who can hear them. That can be a real pain in the ass sometimes!" she practically screamed this last line, as if intentionally directing it to somebody Xander could only figure out to be her conversationalists.
The time-traveller shrugged, hands in pockets. Xander momentarily noticed his outfit wasn't stained with blood here.
"So, any magical mojo working there?" the young Mr. Harris asked nonchalantly, seeing that Cordelia seemed to be again deeply engaged in a conversation he couldn't hear one word of.
"Okay, okay, I got it already!" the brunette seer replied to the void, and turned to lock eyes with her former boyfriend.
"Time's really an issue now," she began, her features fidgety. "There are three vamps, they're helping one of those demon uglies with the creepy silver medallion that's done the spell to frame you and Faith. Also, they're gonna send three persons into your future timeline, it seems..."
"What does that mean? Who are they gonna send to the future, Cordelia?" Xander replied tensely, nearly yelling.
His skin rapidly tensed, and his heartbeat entered into a frenzied speed. Images came into the young man's brain, unbidden; Buffy lying dead in his arms, Dawn's haunted silence after the brunette teenager had been rescued from Angelus, the vampire demon that had possessed Anya's corpse...
It was all just too much to deal with.
I can't go back to that hell, Xander thought hauntedly. I just can't.
"We, we don't know for sure, but I-" the brunette cut herself off, seeming to be receiving more information from the source Xander could not see or hear.
"You what? Damn it - tell me Cor, who are they gonna send, and to what date? I need to know!" This time, he was clearly yelling and barely preventing himself from shaking the seer's body violently, to make her snap out of whatever trance she was in.
He needed to know. He couldn't go back to that future.
"Xander, I-" a scared Cordelia whispered, unshed and frightened tears brightening her hazel orbs at his angry shouts.
"Oh, shit," the former Zeppo cursed himself, running a tense hand through his dark locks of hair. "I-I'm, God Cordy, I'm so-" the cracking words couldn't leave Xander's throat.
The pretty brunette softly put her finger onto Xander's lips, making him go silent immediately. Blazing hazel eyes locked with haunted brown ones, and the following moment was encapsulated by a silence filled with dread, solace, fear and peace, all at the same time.
A sensation words just couldn't explain, as the former odd couple of Sunnydale shared a link so strong, so vivid and so mighty that they were both confused, frightened and, despite everything, strangely completely at ease, if just for a fleeting second.
Sadly, almost regretfully, Cordelia said in an unhurried and honest way, "I'm sorry for everything you had to go through, Xander. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I'm sorry for everything you'll have to go through soon, and I'm sorry I won't be there for you during those moments too..."
The young woman could no longer contain the sorrowful tears falling down her face. "I saw Angelus killing Faith in the hospital," Cordy whispered.
At Xander's shocked look, the seer proceeded softly, "The Powers only know that three people will be put under a powerful and irreversible spell - one that'll transfer the trio to the day Angel's gonna lose his soul, just a few minutes before that happens..."
Cordelia paused. "It's the best that Evil could manage to do... they're relying on the hope of two of those persons failing to stop the ascension of Angelus," the brunette girl then said painfully.
"Faith, me and Angel," Xander contemplated her words.
"That's what I thought too," Cordelia replied. "It's the best possible fit - and the three of you are near each other now, from what I was told by the PTBs."
"Cordy..."
"You've gotta stop him, Xander," the brunette finished up, in a voice so low and hopeless Xander was amazed he could hear it at all. "Don't let the bastard do that to Angel..."
"I won't," the former construction worker replied, but couldn't help the twist of unease in his heart.
"I swear by all that's holy I won't," Xander repeated once more as a whisper, this time locked in a deep hug with Cordelia - who was sobbing against his chest.
And before the former Zeppo could register anything else, he was once again in the warehouse, his absence unnoticed by everyone; for his mind had been in the PTB's parallel universe, for less than a second.
***
I'm sorry, this is rather short. More to come soon. Review me! Thank you so much for all the kind reviews, BTW... I really love ya all!
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?
***
Xander Harris took a brief look around him. The familiar scene was one of a beach pier he had often frequented, some granted years ago, with the same girl that was standing in front of him now; nervous hazel orbs, boring into his puzzled brown ones.
Cordelia Chase was dressed in a majestic white gown, with a favorably V- shaped neckline. The garment was interlaced at the waist by two crossed silver threads of chiffon; and her brunette hair, that was no longer short but long like in the old days, was in a ponytail - some locks graciously scattered along her soft skin.
She looks like a goddess, Xander observed, amazed. Thankfully, not a hell-bitchy brain-sucker one.
"Sooo," the dark-haired guy began uneasily. "You're some sort of spiritual ambassador now? I mean, vision thing, yeah, pfft, 'cause that was so easy to get used to," he muttered awkwardly and with an unquestionable hint of sarcasm.
"Yeah, well, it comes with the sucky job of saving your lame butt," Cordy smirked as a rebuttal.
Xander grinned playfully, "You used to say this lame butt was more than a little cute and, what was the word again? Oh right, yummy wasn't it?"
A roll of the eyes later, "Do I have to answer that, or can I just glare at you?"
"You never said it was a modest butt, after all," the dark-haired guy muttered in triumph.
Xander could swear her cheeks were blushing. "Grow up, Harris," Cordy scoffed tautly.
"Right. So, what's the deal here, Cordy? These mystical voodoo voyages are beginning to make me real dizzy," Xander said lamely.
"This is not funny, Xander," Cordelia's eyes were fixed on the floor for a moment; they seemed to carry a rueful sadness. "And neither is what I've got to tell you..."
The hazel pair of eyes came up, to meet her former boyfriend's dark ones. "There's some major badness being set up for you, Xander. Very ugly, very Hellmouth-y kind of stuff."
"Really? Why didn't I notice it sooner?" the former carpenter asked sarcastically.
"Lemme finish, you doofus! It's really important!" Cordelia cut him off, her voice somehow communicating despair - and not exactly subtly either. "Your life's in danger," she added quietly.
Xander looked straight at her, his expression unreadable yet showing bitter amazement. "Well, yeah, tell me something I don't know, Queen C," the time- traveller replied, rather harshly.
The guilt was brisk and instantaneous. "Look, Cordy, I'm sorry... I-I didn't mean it, and I know I can be a real-"
"Asshole? Jerk? Imbecile?" the brunette girl hinted helpfully, her pained expression momentarily melting into an amused one, and then back to her formerly gloomy mask.
"Something along those lines," Xander mumbled.
Suddenly, Cordelia seemed to stare off into nothingness, seeming to be utterly engaged in some kind of silent conversation with an invisible interlocutor. Xander looked around dumbly, trying to spot the supposed person she was talking to.
He found nobody.
Cordelia, noticing the Sunnydale resident's confusion, clarified, "Don't bother, I'm the only one who can hear them. That can be a real pain in the ass sometimes!" she practically screamed this last line, as if intentionally directing it to somebody Xander could only figure out to be her conversationalists.
The time-traveller shrugged, hands in pockets. Xander momentarily noticed his outfit wasn't stained with blood here.
"So, any magical mojo working there?" the young Mr. Harris asked nonchalantly, seeing that Cordelia seemed to be again deeply engaged in a conversation he couldn't hear one word of.
"Okay, okay, I got it already!" the brunette seer replied to the void, and turned to lock eyes with her former boyfriend.
"Time's really an issue now," she began, her features fidgety. "There are three vamps, they're helping one of those demon uglies with the creepy silver medallion that's done the spell to frame you and Faith. Also, they're gonna send three persons into your future timeline, it seems..."
"What does that mean? Who are they gonna send to the future, Cordelia?" Xander replied tensely, nearly yelling.
His skin rapidly tensed, and his heartbeat entered into a frenzied speed. Images came into the young man's brain, unbidden; Buffy lying dead in his arms, Dawn's haunted silence after the brunette teenager had been rescued from Angelus, the vampire demon that had possessed Anya's corpse...
It was all just too much to deal with.
I can't go back to that hell, Xander thought hauntedly. I just can't.
"We, we don't know for sure, but I-" the brunette cut herself off, seeming to be receiving more information from the source Xander could not see or hear.
"You what? Damn it - tell me Cor, who are they gonna send, and to what date? I need to know!" This time, he was clearly yelling and barely preventing himself from shaking the seer's body violently, to make her snap out of whatever trance she was in.
He needed to know. He couldn't go back to that future.
"Xander, I-" a scared Cordelia whispered, unshed and frightened tears brightening her hazel orbs at his angry shouts.
"Oh, shit," the former Zeppo cursed himself, running a tense hand through his dark locks of hair. "I-I'm, God Cordy, I'm so-" the cracking words couldn't leave Xander's throat.
The pretty brunette softly put her finger onto Xander's lips, making him go silent immediately. Blazing hazel eyes locked with haunted brown ones, and the following moment was encapsulated by a silence filled with dread, solace, fear and peace, all at the same time.
A sensation words just couldn't explain, as the former odd couple of Sunnydale shared a link so strong, so vivid and so mighty that they were both confused, frightened and, despite everything, strangely completely at ease, if just for a fleeting second.
Sadly, almost regretfully, Cordelia said in an unhurried and honest way, "I'm sorry for everything you had to go through, Xander. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you. I'm sorry for everything you'll have to go through soon, and I'm sorry I won't be there for you during those moments too..."
The young woman could no longer contain the sorrowful tears falling down her face. "I saw Angelus killing Faith in the hospital," Cordy whispered.
At Xander's shocked look, the seer proceeded softly, "The Powers only know that three people will be put under a powerful and irreversible spell - one that'll transfer the trio to the day Angel's gonna lose his soul, just a few minutes before that happens..."
Cordelia paused. "It's the best that Evil could manage to do... they're relying on the hope of two of those persons failing to stop the ascension of Angelus," the brunette girl then said painfully.
"Faith, me and Angel," Xander contemplated her words.
"That's what I thought too," Cordelia replied. "It's the best possible fit - and the three of you are near each other now, from what I was told by the PTBs."
"Cordy..."
"You've gotta stop him, Xander," the brunette finished up, in a voice so low and hopeless Xander was amazed he could hear it at all. "Don't let the bastard do that to Angel..."
"I won't," the former construction worker replied, but couldn't help the twist of unease in his heart.
"I swear by all that's holy I won't," Xander repeated once more as a whisper, this time locked in a deep hug with Cordelia - who was sobbing against his chest.
And before the former Zeppo could register anything else, he was once again in the warehouse, his absence unnoticed by everyone; for his mind had been in the PTB's parallel universe, for less than a second.
***
I'm sorry, this is rather short. More to come soon. Review me! Thank you so much for all the kind reviews, BTW... I really love ya all!