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?
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: FROM NOW ON, THIS STORY'S BEING WRITTEN BY JANE MCCARTNEY AND STAIRWAY MAN.
Chapter 24:
How do you define complete and utter hopelessness? When you feel like nothing you say or do, can or will make any difference? When you wonder, "what's the point of anything?"
For Cordelia Chase, once-reluctant seer and former bitchy Queen of Sunnydale High, the personification of that utterly horrible feeling of having no hope... was her first serious boyfriend, Xander Harris.
Ever since the time-traveler had come back into her life a short while ago, everything had gone from bad to worse for the former cheerleader.
She had lied to her friends - the people she now considered her family. She had gotten stabbed, and almost killed, by a demon. She had accused an innocent man - Xander, the guy who had actually saved her - of that crime. And now she had failed to stop the end of the world, by not killing Angel; who was destined to lose his soul, and drown the planet in blood.
Talk about having a bad 48 hours.
"Cordy?" the girl heard someone with a familiar voice say. "Are, are you alright?"
Looking up from the floor, the brunette saw Willow Rosenberg staring down at her in the hospital corridor. A blonde that she didn't know was at Willow's side. "Willow? How did you - and, uh, who's your friend?"
"I, I'm Tara Maclay," the girl said in a slow, almost stuttering voice.
"Yeah, she's my girlfriend," the redheaded hacker supplied eagerly. Then her features changed, "Cordy, what are you doing out of bed? We, we heard that you were hurt real bad..."
"Never mind that," the messenger for the Powers grunted, as she stood up after having collided with the witches. "I, uh, we need to get back to the hotel..."
All of a sudden, Dawn Summers came racing down the hallway. "Guys! Guys! I just heard..." Then the young woman stopped, as soon as she saw Cordelia. "Cordelia? Oh wow..."
"What did you just hear, Dawnie?" Tara asked gently, as Cordelia nodded absently to the new arrival, her mind on other things.
"Oh, that!" the former Key yelped quickly. "Xander and Faith! There's a load of people that've been brought in, to be treated for temporary blindness. Apparently the cops tried to arrest them, but they just disappeared! Poof, in a flash of light - just like that!"
Cordelia groaned in pain, the misery of her failure hitting her like a pile of bricks. "It's started... it's started..."
"What is it, Cordy?" Willow asked at once. "I, we'll get a doctor..."
"NO!" the former ruler of Sunnydale fashion shouted, then meekly apologized, "I mean, sorry, but we got an 'end-of-the-world' thing to deal with first. Just like high school... so nothing else matters now..."
***
Cordelia, Dawn, Willow and Tara quickly took a taxi back to the Hyperion hotel, after the brunette girl signed herself out of St. Matthew's. The doctors almost refused to let her go, as she was barely off the critical list - but then, Cordy wasn't the former imperious Queen C of Sunnydale for nothing.
All through the cab ride, the other girls tried to get her to talk to them; but Cordy had seemed to sink into a deep, almost limitless depression, and for once in her life didn't want to chat. All she told them was that Xander, Faith and Angel were in big trouble, it was a long story and that she only wanted to tell it once.
This worried Dawn Summers a lot.
The brunette teenager was mostly quiet during the trip, because even though nobody else realized it right then... Dawn suddenly understood that this was the first time in her life, that she had ever actually met Cordelia Chase.
Oh, of course Spike's li'l bit remembered the head cheerleader; she had known of the girl practically ever since the first day the Summers women had arrived in Sunnydale. And in the past, Dawn had always looked up to Cordy for her fashion sense, but had also been incredibly jealous of her when she'd started dating her former crush, Xander.
But all those memories were fakes, planted by those monks; because Miss 'I- can't-live-poor-in-Sunnydale' Chase had left town after Graduation, and Dawn had never really met her until now.
And the bottom line was, the former Key didn't know how she felt about that.
Fortunately, everyone else had plenty of other things on their minds. The ride to the hotel was over soon, and after paying off the driver all four women headed inside to find the others.
"Wesley? Gunn? Fred?" Cordelia shouted, as they entered the lounge. "Are you guys here?"
The Fang Gang quickly came out, and rushed over to her. Fred instantly grabbed Cordy into a big hug, "Cordelia! Gosh! We were all so worried!"
Cordelia moaned in pain. "Fred! Stab wound here! Watch it!"
"Oh, sorry!" the Texan girl let go with a sheepish grin.
"Cordelia, thank heavens you're safe," Wesley said in his English accent. Then he hugged her, much more gently than the Texan girl.
"Yeah, damn, it's good to see ya!" Gunn also quickly embraced her and stepped back. "Thank God, that psycho asshole Harris didn't kill you..."
The black man stopped, suddenly aware of the temperature dropping and the furious gazes the women had started sending him. "What?" he asked in amazement. "He tried to stake Angel, and he tried to off you! Heard he's been diagnosed a nut case, so just calling 'em as I see 'em here..."
Dawn, Willow and Tara looked ready to kill the former gang leader, but Cordelia stepped forward and invaded Gunn's personal space. "Gunn?" she said in a sweetly evil voice.
"Yeah?"
"You don't actually know a thing about what's really happened, so just for now why don't you try to keep your big mouth shut?!" she screamed the last words right into his face.
The young vampire hunter looked amazed and hurt at Cordy's attitude, and was just about to start yelling back at her when he felt a soft hand touch his arm. He looked around, and saw Fred silently telling him to drop it.
Gunn shrugged, as the fact was that Miss Burkle held a great deal of influence over him. "Whatever..."
Anya then arrived at the hotel, and looked around for Dawn, Willow and Tara. "Why did you guys leave without me?" the blonde demanded, when she came into the lounge.
The other three had no good answer, until Dawn had the bright idea of saying, "Cordelia made us come with her?"
Anya looked at the woman in question. "Is that true?"
Cordelia looked at this person, who had taken her place in Xander's life. Fighting off a sudden rush of desperate jealousy, she tried to think of something to say; but in the end, couldn't summon up the energy for it and eventually just went with the truth.
"I guess so. Sorry - I, uh, I was pretty desperate to find Wesley and the others at the time..."
The former demoness looked right back at Cordy. Anya then knew, absolutely knew beyond any doubt, that something was going on with her Xander and this woman. For once in her life, though, the former Anyanka decided to ignore whatever it was for now and just deal with it later.
"I see. Oh!" Anya looked around at the others, as Buffy, Giles and Spike joined the group. "Xander and Faith have disappeared!"
"Yeah, I know! I heard that too!" Dawn quickly said.
Anya looked annoyed. "It was my news to tell!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Hey, knock it off! Look, it's part of what I have to tell you guys," Cordelia sighed, and then sat down as her wound started aching. "Everyone sit down, it's gonna be a long story..."
***
[A short while later]
"So there you have it," Cordy finished up the long, incredible tale with a sigh. "The Powers That Be restored my memory, Xander Faith and Angel have been sent to the future, and the whole world's in big, big, trouble unless we can figure out how to stop Angelus showing up."
There was a stunned silence, as all the members of the Fang Gang and the Scoobies tried to take all the facts in. And, figure out a way to politely tell the brunette girl that she was crazy.
"You're crazy," Anya was the only one with the guts and tactlessness to say it out loud.
"No, I'm not. I know it's tempting to think I am, but I'm not..."
"Yes, you are. Just who do you think you're dealing with here?" Anya stated angrily. "I'm not an idiot! None of us are, and none of that is true. It can't be! You're a liar!"
The young seer's patience was exhausted. "And people say *I'm* tactless..." the girl snarled as she glared at Xander's betrothed.
Fred looked around and began to stammer, "Uh, guys? I just wanna say, we-we shouldn't just dismiss everything Cordy told us out of hand. I mean, ya know, time travel's possible, even without magic..."
Everyone looked at her in amazement. "Oh, yeah! 'Cause, 'cause, I *was* a physics major before the big swirly portal thing dumped me into Pylea, remember? Professor Oliver Seidel and me, we had some long conversations about it back then..."
"Oh, come on!" Gunn sneered. "Is everyone trippin' out on weed here or what? I mean demons and magic yeah, I get that; but when did this all turn into a whack-job version of 'Back To The Future'?"
As everyone started arguing, Giles and Wesley looked at each other. Silently nodding, the ex-Watchers quickly withdrew into Wes's private office and the younger British man shut the door.
"Good bloody Lord, is it always like this?" Giles asked his compatriot wearily.
Wesley smiled painfully. "Yes, Mr. Giles, I'm afraid so..."
Rupert interrupted him, "For Heaven's sake Wesley, don't do that! We've known each other for years, plus we're not with the Council anymore; this is no time to stand on formality. Call me Rupert..."
"As you wish," the man shrugged and took off his glasses. He started rubbing them, as Giles unconsciously started to do the same thing. "Well, Rupert, this is a fine mess, I-I must say..."
"Quite. What do you propose we do - assuming Cordelia is telling the truth?"
"I'm open to suggestions..."
There was a long pause, as Giles looked at the head of Angel Investigations. "First off, we start researching. Especially this prophecy she mentioned that Xander told her; it, it's got to be referenced somewhere. But apart from that..." he let out a long sigh. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I hope not," Wesley sighed too.
"Come on, man, let's not kid ourselves. Remember that oath we swore, after graduating the Academy? If Cordelia's story checks out, the odds are... we're going to have 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?
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: FROM NOW ON, THIS STORY'S BEING WRITTEN BY JANE MCCARTNEY AND STAIRWAY MAN.
Chapter 24:
How do you define complete and utter hopelessness? When you feel like nothing you say or do, can or will make any difference? When you wonder, "what's the point of anything?"
For Cordelia Chase, once-reluctant seer and former bitchy Queen of Sunnydale High, the personification of that utterly horrible feeling of having no hope... was her first serious boyfriend, Xander Harris.
Ever since the time-traveler had come back into her life a short while ago, everything had gone from bad to worse for the former cheerleader.
She had lied to her friends - the people she now considered her family. She had gotten stabbed, and almost killed, by a demon. She had accused an innocent man - Xander, the guy who had actually saved her - of that crime. And now she had failed to stop the end of the world, by not killing Angel; who was destined to lose his soul, and drown the planet in blood.
Talk about having a bad 48 hours.
"Cordy?" the girl heard someone with a familiar voice say. "Are, are you alright?"
Looking up from the floor, the brunette saw Willow Rosenberg staring down at her in the hospital corridor. A blonde that she didn't know was at Willow's side. "Willow? How did you - and, uh, who's your friend?"
"I, I'm Tara Maclay," the girl said in a slow, almost stuttering voice.
"Yeah, she's my girlfriend," the redheaded hacker supplied eagerly. Then her features changed, "Cordy, what are you doing out of bed? We, we heard that you were hurt real bad..."
"Never mind that," the messenger for the Powers grunted, as she stood up after having collided with the witches. "I, uh, we need to get back to the hotel..."
All of a sudden, Dawn Summers came racing down the hallway. "Guys! Guys! I just heard..." Then the young woman stopped, as soon as she saw Cordelia. "Cordelia? Oh wow..."
"What did you just hear, Dawnie?" Tara asked gently, as Cordelia nodded absently to the new arrival, her mind on other things.
"Oh, that!" the former Key yelped quickly. "Xander and Faith! There's a load of people that've been brought in, to be treated for temporary blindness. Apparently the cops tried to arrest them, but they just disappeared! Poof, in a flash of light - just like that!"
Cordelia groaned in pain, the misery of her failure hitting her like a pile of bricks. "It's started... it's started..."
"What is it, Cordy?" Willow asked at once. "I, we'll get a doctor..."
"NO!" the former ruler of Sunnydale fashion shouted, then meekly apologized, "I mean, sorry, but we got an 'end-of-the-world' thing to deal with first. Just like high school... so nothing else matters now..."
***
Cordelia, Dawn, Willow and Tara quickly took a taxi back to the Hyperion hotel, after the brunette girl signed herself out of St. Matthew's. The doctors almost refused to let her go, as she was barely off the critical list - but then, Cordy wasn't the former imperious Queen C of Sunnydale for nothing.
All through the cab ride, the other girls tried to get her to talk to them; but Cordy had seemed to sink into a deep, almost limitless depression, and for once in her life didn't want to chat. All she told them was that Xander, Faith and Angel were in big trouble, it was a long story and that she only wanted to tell it once.
This worried Dawn Summers a lot.
The brunette teenager was mostly quiet during the trip, because even though nobody else realized it right then... Dawn suddenly understood that this was the first time in her life, that she had ever actually met Cordelia Chase.
Oh, of course Spike's li'l bit remembered the head cheerleader; she had known of the girl practically ever since the first day the Summers women had arrived in Sunnydale. And in the past, Dawn had always looked up to Cordy for her fashion sense, but had also been incredibly jealous of her when she'd started dating her former crush, Xander.
But all those memories were fakes, planted by those monks; because Miss 'I- can't-live-poor-in-Sunnydale' Chase had left town after Graduation, and Dawn had never really met her until now.
And the bottom line was, the former Key didn't know how she felt about that.
Fortunately, everyone else had plenty of other things on their minds. The ride to the hotel was over soon, and after paying off the driver all four women headed inside to find the others.
"Wesley? Gunn? Fred?" Cordelia shouted, as they entered the lounge. "Are you guys here?"
The Fang Gang quickly came out, and rushed over to her. Fred instantly grabbed Cordy into a big hug, "Cordelia! Gosh! We were all so worried!"
Cordelia moaned in pain. "Fred! Stab wound here! Watch it!"
"Oh, sorry!" the Texan girl let go with a sheepish grin.
"Cordelia, thank heavens you're safe," Wesley said in his English accent. Then he hugged her, much more gently than the Texan girl.
"Yeah, damn, it's good to see ya!" Gunn also quickly embraced her and stepped back. "Thank God, that psycho asshole Harris didn't kill you..."
The black man stopped, suddenly aware of the temperature dropping and the furious gazes the women had started sending him. "What?" he asked in amazement. "He tried to stake Angel, and he tried to off you! Heard he's been diagnosed a nut case, so just calling 'em as I see 'em here..."
Dawn, Willow and Tara looked ready to kill the former gang leader, but Cordelia stepped forward and invaded Gunn's personal space. "Gunn?" she said in a sweetly evil voice.
"Yeah?"
"You don't actually know a thing about what's really happened, so just for now why don't you try to keep your big mouth shut?!" she screamed the last words right into his face.
The young vampire hunter looked amazed and hurt at Cordy's attitude, and was just about to start yelling back at her when he felt a soft hand touch his arm. He looked around, and saw Fred silently telling him to drop it.
Gunn shrugged, as the fact was that Miss Burkle held a great deal of influence over him. "Whatever..."
Anya then arrived at the hotel, and looked around for Dawn, Willow and Tara. "Why did you guys leave without me?" the blonde demanded, when she came into the lounge.
The other three had no good answer, until Dawn had the bright idea of saying, "Cordelia made us come with her?"
Anya looked at the woman in question. "Is that true?"
Cordelia looked at this person, who had taken her place in Xander's life. Fighting off a sudden rush of desperate jealousy, she tried to think of something to say; but in the end, couldn't summon up the energy for it and eventually just went with the truth.
"I guess so. Sorry - I, uh, I was pretty desperate to find Wesley and the others at the time..."
The former demoness looked right back at Cordy. Anya then knew, absolutely knew beyond any doubt, that something was going on with her Xander and this woman. For once in her life, though, the former Anyanka decided to ignore whatever it was for now and just deal with it later.
"I see. Oh!" Anya looked around at the others, as Buffy, Giles and Spike joined the group. "Xander and Faith have disappeared!"
"Yeah, I know! I heard that too!" Dawn quickly said.
Anya looked annoyed. "It was my news to tell!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Hey, knock it off! Look, it's part of what I have to tell you guys," Cordelia sighed, and then sat down as her wound started aching. "Everyone sit down, it's gonna be a long story..."
***
[A short while later]
"So there you have it," Cordy finished up the long, incredible tale with a sigh. "The Powers That Be restored my memory, Xander Faith and Angel have been sent to the future, and the whole world's in big, big, trouble unless we can figure out how to stop Angelus showing up."
There was a stunned silence, as all the members of the Fang Gang and the Scoobies tried to take all the facts in. And, figure out a way to politely tell the brunette girl that she was crazy.
"You're crazy," Anya was the only one with the guts and tactlessness to say it out loud.
"No, I'm not. I know it's tempting to think I am, but I'm not..."
"Yes, you are. Just who do you think you're dealing with here?" Anya stated angrily. "I'm not an idiot! None of us are, and none of that is true. It can't be! You're a liar!"
The young seer's patience was exhausted. "And people say *I'm* tactless..." the girl snarled as she glared at Xander's betrothed.
Fred looked around and began to stammer, "Uh, guys? I just wanna say, we-we shouldn't just dismiss everything Cordy told us out of hand. I mean, ya know, time travel's possible, even without magic..."
Everyone looked at her in amazement. "Oh, yeah! 'Cause, 'cause, I *was* a physics major before the big swirly portal thing dumped me into Pylea, remember? Professor Oliver Seidel and me, we had some long conversations about it back then..."
"Oh, come on!" Gunn sneered. "Is everyone trippin' out on weed here or what? I mean demons and magic yeah, I get that; but when did this all turn into a whack-job version of 'Back To The Future'?"
As everyone started arguing, Giles and Wesley looked at each other. Silently nodding, the ex-Watchers quickly withdrew into Wes's private office and the younger British man shut the door.
"Good bloody Lord, is it always like this?" Giles asked his compatriot wearily.
Wesley smiled painfully. "Yes, Mr. Giles, I'm afraid so..."
Rupert interrupted him, "For Heaven's sake Wesley, don't do that! We've known each other for years, plus we're not with the Council anymore; this is no time to stand on formality. Call me Rupert..."
"As you wish," the man shrugged and took off his glasses. He started rubbing them, as Giles unconsciously started to do the same thing. "Well, Rupert, this is a fine mess, I-I must say..."
"Quite. What do you propose we do - assuming Cordelia is telling the truth?"
"I'm open to suggestions..."
There was a long pause, as Giles looked at the head of Angel Investigations. "First off, we start researching. Especially this prophecy she mentioned that Xander told her; it, it's got to be referenced somewhere. But apart from that..." he let out a long sigh. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I hope not," Wesley sighed too.
"Come on, man, let's not kid ourselves. Remember that oath we swore, after graduating the Academy? If Cordelia's story checks out, the odds are... we're going to have to kill Angel..."
***