Waking Up From The Past
Chapter 5: The Hell That Is Sunnydale
by Hollywood Phoenix
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Spoilers: 3rd season Angel ep 'Provider' and 3rd season Buffy
So far: Cordy's visions remind her of 3rd season Buffy years! She was just brushed off by Angel in 2002, while Angel was brushed off by Cordelia in 1998. He's about to be staked by Faith. Wesley continued bashing his self-esteem. Kate's consciousness from 1998 is dead.
A/N: Thanks for the support and feedback so far! I'm a feedback junkie so it's definitely appreciated. :)
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The Hyperion Hotel, January 23, 2002
Hastily paying the cab fare, as it pulled up to the hotel, Wesley jumped out and sprinted to the front entrance. Spotting Gunn opening the door for Fred, as they were entering, Wesley blurted out, "Thank goodness you two are all right!"
Gunn exchanged a puzzled look with the lithe former Masters student. "Why wouldn't we be? Where ya been, Wes?"
Wesley gave them a confused look. "You mean you didn't kill the second demon? The one that I assume killed Kate?"
Fred exclaimed, "Kate's dead?" as Gunn replied, "I thought you were looking after that one."
Wesley stared at them for a brief moment, a feeling of dread creeping in again, "I lost track of it." He pushed past the other two to enter the hotel. "We have to find Cordelia and Angel."
A slightly peeved voice in front of him piped up. Wesley turned to look in the lobby and saw Cordelia with one hand around Connor, the other on her hip. "Well, it's about time you showed up."
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A park on an unknown street, November 18, 1998
As Faith was about to stake him, Angel started kicking his legs up to throw her off him. Before he could do so, a slim yet strong arm suddenly flew in and knocked Faith to his side. He looked at his savior and to his astonishment, watched a defensive Buffy tackle Faith on the ground and wrestle for the wooden stake.
Having taken Faith by surprise, Buffy was able to pin the brunette slayer to the ground after a short scuffle. "What are you doing?" the blonde slayer demanded.
Faith smirked at Buffy, "Doing the slayer's job." she spit out. She gestured her head towards Angel, "Like I keep telling you, he's a vampire, I'm the slayer. I'm just doing what I gotta do."
When Faith tried pushing her off, Buffy tightened her grip and slammed her to the ground again. "And I'm telling you that he's good again. He helped us out with the Glove tonight, didn't he? And you were wrong in thinking that he was attacking Gwendolyn Post."
Angel's thoughts flew back to that evening, over three years ago. So, this was right after they had defeated Gwendolyn Post, the ex-watcher who had tried to wield the great power of the Glove of Myhnegon. Looking down at his body, he realized that he was wearing the same clothes that he had worn that night, and chances were, the rest of him looked the same as well. With sinking dread, he realized that he would have to figure out a way to get his consciousness back to his rightful time by himself. But first, he needed to focus on the situation at hand.
Faith snarled at the blonde girl, "You may think you were right to stop me earlier because that Post chick was a psycho, but I just stopped your vampire boy-toy from making mince-meat out of Miss Sunny-frigging-cheerleader over here."
Buffy turned her head towards Cordelia for the first time that evening. A brief moment of uncertainty flickered across her face. "That's not true," she said firmly. "I know Angel wouldn't do that now." She was almost pleading with the brunette who had watched the entire scene in silence. "Tell Faith she's wrong."
Angel saw the mix of emotions tugging across Cordelia's face. Fear, anger, amusement, and lots of confusion.
"When I saw him, he scared me half to death. I thought he might have been attacking me." she started saying slowly. In dismay, Angel saw Faith shooting a triumphant glare at the blonde girl who was still holding her down. "But I don't think he was trying to maul me anymore. I just didn't expect him, I guess." Cordelia concluded, stepping closer to Angel. Both Angel and Buffy stared at her in surprise.
Faith let out a frustrated noise. "Should have known you'd be a cop-out, dating a loser like Xander." Cordelia immediately sent her daggers with her eyes. Faith's body relaxed a bit, losing some of her tight tension. "Fine, I'm not going to stake him. Let me up."
Buffy's eyes wavered as she searched the other slayer's face. "You promise, now?"
Faith pursed her ruby red lips, "Yeah, I promise! Let me up now!" Buffy released her reluctantly, but observed her with a hawk-like stance as Faith got up off the ground and dusted herself off.
Angel turned to Faith, in an attempt to pacify her brewing distrust and anger, "I'm sorry we went through that. You'll find out that I'm really not the bad guy you think I am." he told her softly.
"Yeah, whatever." Faith shrugged back, obviously not convinced. She gave Buffy a disgusted look. "Seeing that we're not going to be vampire slayers tonight, I'm jetting out of here." As she turned to leave, she threw a comment towards Cordelia, "Next time, I'll let him suck you dry first and then stake him. Should have done that in the first place." With that, Faith sprinted out of the park as Cordelia crossed her arms and fumed silently.
After watching Faith run off into the darkness, Buffy went up to Angel, not quite close enough to touch him. "Look, everyone just found out about you being back again. It's going to take some time." she said, her emotionless voice repressing her underlying affection. Angel saw the intense way she was gazing at him and remembered that they were trying not to act on their feelings around each other at this point. He gave an inaudible sigh of relief, realizing that this would make it easier for him to act as if nothing was wrong with him around her.
"I know. I understand that... I can wait." he reassured her. As long as he stuck to the original set of events, and found a way to get himself back to 2002, it would all work out. No one would be the wiser. However, he hadn't counted on Cordelia Chase complicating matters again.
"Well, I don't understand it. Will someone explain to me why you just hugged me?" Cordelia's shrill voice rang out into the night air.
Angel gawked at the impeccably attired brunette as Buffy stared at them both incredulously. His throat closed up, as his mind started panicking. How was he going to get out of this one?
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The park on Baker Street, January 23, 2002
Having assessed that Angel's consciousness had suffered the same fate as Kate's, Wesley told them that Angel would have to try the spell again. When the gang, with the exception of Lorne and Connor, returned to the park, the bodies of the monsters and Kate's were still lying there. Fred paused in front of them in awe, seemingly disregarding the smell given off by the rotting corpses.
"So, how are we going to dispose of them?" she asked, curiously.
Wesley looked at her, startled by the question. "What do you mean?"
"We can't just leave them there." she questioned, persistently. "What if someone finds them?"
Wesley shook his head. "We don't do anything about them. Wolfram and Hart, the Initiate, or some form of animal control will likely take the demons away and the police will handle Kate's death."
"So we just leave them out here until they're found?" Fred queried. "Isn't that... wrong?"
Wesley grimaced, "We don't have the means to dispose of them, unfortunately. With vampires, usually nothing's left of them because they turn to dust. But with these monsters..." Wesley shrugged and gently said to her. "We can't think of that now."
Gunn strode up to Fred, placing reassuring hands on her shoulders, "So let me get this straight," he said, turning to Wesley. "Angel over here," nodding to the dark vampire following swiftly behind them, "is not really the Angel we know. 'Cause this is Angel from 1998 and the Angel we know switched minds with him?" He paused, "Did I get that right?"
"Yes, quite right." Wesley replied, in his crisp English accent.
Fred looked at the way Angel stayed on the fringes of the group and tended to walk in darker lit areas of the park. "This Angel doesn't seem very comfortable with us. Maybe we should call Buffy --"
Looking over her shoulder, Cordy sharply retorted, "No. We're not calling the B-word."
Fred was taken aback, but then she remembered that Cordy was always a little touchy when the blonde vampire slayer Fred had never met was mentioned. She peered at Angel. He may not have been comfortable with the group but when Cordy had snapped at Fred for suggesting to call Buffy, his expression seemed less anxious. Tentatively, she went up to him, "Is that a smile I'm seeing on your face?"
Angel looked at her, surprised. He raised his shoulders slightly, then responded in his soft voice, "This is the Cordelia I remember. She and Buffy never did get along."
Fred hid a quick smile under her ducked head. Leave to Cordy to get a smile out of Angel. Regardless of the means.
Wesley nodded his head, agreeing with Cordy, "We don't know what the impact of this transfer of consciousness on the timeline will be. My recommendation would be to ensure that as few people know about this as possible. And that we resolve this as quickly as possible."
Pinching the bridge of her nose at the smell of the demons, Cordy called to them urgently, "Then hurry up, guys! We have to save Angel from the hell that is Sunnydale right now."
Wesley opened the spell book in his hands and handed it to Angel, who was hidden under a large, shadowy tree. "Kate might have died first, but Angel made the mistake in reading the spell for her. That's why his consciousness was transferred and hers likely remained. Just say this spell once and you should be back in 1998, back in Sunnydale."
Cordy cut in, "Angel was standing where Kate is, I mean was, when that thing killed her, when Angel, I mean our Angel, read the spell the other time." Her brown locks swished around her cheeks as she shook her head in consternation. Pointing towards the bodies, she said to Angel. "Just go over there and read the spell."
Angel floated to the blonde woman's body and started reading the spell in his hushed voice. Fred continued to observe him closely, unused to seeing Angel so quiet and pensive, almost shy. She couldn't understand why everyone else seemed to be accepting it so casually. When Angel had finished reading the spell, he looked up with the same look of expectation that Kate had the first time the spell was read.
Cordy immediately recognized the look, "Oh, great, it didn't work." Slightly panicked, she asked the people milling around Angel, "But everyone knows everyone else and where they are, right?" As the others nodded their heads, she breathed a sigh. Then she blinked angrily at Wesley, "So, what now, oh leader?"
Wesley's mind churned as he stared at the book in Angel's hands dumbfoundedly. "It should have worked." he said, seemingly to himself. Hanging his head slightly, he looked at Cordy, "I honestly don't know."
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A/N: I'm slowly bringing each of the more memorable supporting characters in. So, please be patient!
Disclaimers: I know I don't own the show Angel or its characters.
(c) March 30, 2002
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