CHAPTER TEN: CURSED
Much to Cordelia's disappointment, she wasn't part of the team for retrieving the Shaman to reinstate Angel's soul. She wasn't even the person that Wesley handed the keys to Angelus' cage to, much to her extreme disappointment. Her plans were not going at all well. All because of Buffy Summers.
The mortal Cordelia Chase had had the exact same problem. But now, Cordelia had more power than any of them knew. She was the one who was controlling the Beast. She was the one who had sabotaged the ritual for restoring Angel's soul earlier. The spell had been to knock Lorne's sensors out of balance so he would read Angelus and see Angel.
She was no longer Cordelia Chase, ex-Sunnydale High Student, turned half-demon seer for the Powers That Be. She wasn't on the side of light, fighting the good fight. She was darkness personified. She was the Master, and would soon rule over everything that lived and everything that didn't. Evil would rule, and finally triumph over good. And the creature wearing Cordelia Chase's body could not have been happier.
------------------------
Within the hour, Wesley, Gunn and Connor returned with the Shaman in tow. The AI team, minus Cordelia of course, who was no longer an AI member in reality, was immensely relieved.
Greetings and introductions over, Wesley jumped straight into it.
"Will you need to be in the room with Angelus to restore his soul?"
Wo-Pang, a shaman of the Order of Kun-Sun Dai, shook his head. "If he is in the vicinity, it will work."
A loud shout came from downstairs. He was still yelling at the top of his lungs. The AI team had learned to block it out. The shaman looked vaguely surprised before turning back to Wesley.
"You have the soul?"
Wesley looked to Buffy who stood up and hesitantly handed the soul back to the Shaman. She didn't like just handing her soulmates soul over to someone she'd never met before. She kept her eyes on him at all times.
"Don't suppose you can make his soul permanent?" Buffy asked hopefully.
The shaman turned to her and considered her words. He closed his eyes, his hands on Angel's soul. His eyes opened and he looked at the Slayer and nodded. "I can."
Cordelia stood suddenly and walked past Wesley, Buffy and Wo-Pang, bumping sharply into the shaman, his hands flying out to steady himself. Buffy shot forward and placed her hands around the Muo-Ping, ensuring that it didn't go flying from the shaman's hands.
Buffy was seriously beginning to wonder what was wrong with Cordelia, besides an unhealthy amount of jealousy.
Cordelia seethed. That had been her last hope in getting Angel's soul back. She should have known that hiding the Muo-Ping in the hotel would have been too obvious, but she'd had no time to take it anywhere else with the AI team noticing. She stormed up to her room, and no one moved to follow her.
"Man that girl is getting moody," Gunn commented.
Buffy nodded and finally let go of the Muo-Ping when she was sure that Wo-Pang had a good grip on it. The shaman set up a sacred circle, seating himself in the centre of it, the container at his feet.
"I'm gonna go downstairs, make sure this ritual thingy actually works," Buffy said.
She didn't particularly want to be down there with Angelus, but she wanted to be there when Angel's soul was returned. The group nodded and Buffy moved off, unsurprised when Connor followed her.
"Hey Connor," she greeted quietly as they moved down the steps. They both winced when Angelus' screams suddenly amplified as they opened the door. They were quick to close it so that the shaman was left in peace.
Connor and Buffy walked down the stairs and sat themselves on the crates that Buffy and Gunn had been occupying earlier, both of them ignoring Angelus, even as he yelled and screamed directly at them. Instead, they held their own quiet conversation.
"So…you and Angelus, huh?" he asked, desperate to know who this woman was.
Buffy shook her head. "Me and Angel. I've never been with Angelus."
Connor sighed. Before seeing Angelus for himself he's been convinced that Angel and Angelus were exactly the same beings. But how, having seen Angelus go completely insane, he wasn't so sure. Everything that Holtz had ever taught him whilst he'd been growing up in Quortoth was being questioned, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it.
"And he really fed off you?"
Buffy nodded. "He'd been poisoned. The only cure was the blood of a Slayer," she explained.
Connor was completely baffled. A Slayer, from what he could gather, was a warrior of light, someone who fought against the forces of darkness. Why would she have risked her life to save a vampire?
"You loved him?"
"Still do," she admitted. "We may not have been conventional, but…we love each other."
"What happened?"
Buffy pointed to Angelus. "He was afraid of becoming that," Buffy explained. "You know about the curse? The clause about him being too happy?"
Connor nodded.
"Well, it got kinda broken. Angelus rampaged around town for a bit, and…I couldn't kill him. I should have been able to, but…I couldn't. His soul was restored to him, and…well there's a fair bit missing in the middle, but the end result was that he was frightened of letting Angelus out again. If he ever became truly happy again…he didn't want to let out his demon."
Connor was quickly reconsidering his opinion of Angel. He'd given up the love and loyalty of a beautiful girl to save her from his demon. It didn't sound like the violent and vicious animal that he assumed Angel to be. It contradicted everything that Holtz had ever taught him.
"Connor, I know you're confused about Angel. About where Angelus stops and Angel starts," Buffy said gently. "But Angel's a good man. He helps people. He's saved so many lives, and it won't make up for what his demon did, but it's helping people now. Angelus is a cruel son of a bitch, I'll give you that, but Angel…he's kind, and sweet and thoughtful. A little broody, but…"
Connor chuckled a little. He could see why his father loved this girl. He could see the loyalty that Buffy had for Angel. A warrior of light barracking for a demon cursed with a soul. Connor knew that he would have to have a serious talk with his father about all of this. And after that, he'd need some more time to think over everything that had happened these last few days.
"Do you still wanna be with him?" Connor asked.
Buffy hesitated. She breathed in deeply and eventually nodded. She did want to be with Angel, even after everything that had happened between them. She wouldn't have taken back any of their relationship at all (except possibly the Angelus portion and the him being in hell section of it all).
"Yeah. I do," she finally replied.
Connor thought about the notion of having her around the hotel more often. Surprisingly, he smiled at the thought. He was definitely intrigued by this girl, and he definitely wanted to know more about her and her relationship with his father.
Angelus suddenly stopped screaming and both Connor and Buffy turned to face him, leaping to their feet and approaching the cage. The dark-haired vampire cried out in pain and fell to his knees, his hands reaching out to the bars of the cage to keep himself from collapsing.
Buffy could feel her heart in her throat, nervous and anxious for the shaman's spell to work. Angel cried out again and fell backwards. He gasped suddenly and a familiar orange light flashed in his eyes.
Buffy felt something settle back into her stomach, tingles running up and down her spine. For the first time since her fight with the Turokhan, she relaxed. Part of her very core was back where it belonged and she was able to breath easier.
Connor looked at Buffy and saw the smile that was lighting her face.
"It worked?"
Buffy nodded. "It worked."
Buffy watched as Angel struggled to get to his feet. Buffy stepped forward, ignoring the hand that Connor put on her arm to stop her. She touched one of Angel's hands, and his eyes opened, meeting hers. She smiled at him, thankful that she was looking into Angel's soulful eyes instead of Angelus'. It had been too long since she'd seen him.
"Buffy," he whispered softly. Even though he said it in the same way that Angelus had said it, Buffy could tell the difference. This was the real deal.
"Hey," she said softly, tears coming to her eyes. "Welcome back."
"Good to be back," he replied. His eyes searched her face, his hand coming through the bars to gently touch the cut on her cheek. "You never did tell me who managed to 'kick your ass' as you put it."
"Oh, it was this Turokhan thingy. No big," Buffy said.
Angel's eyes widened. He visually looked her over, searching for other scars. "No big?" he asked. "Buffy, they're the vampires that vampires fear! They're…evil and impossible to kill!"
"Well, he's dust," Buffy assured him. "Trust me, I'm okay."
Angel sighed with relief and suddenly noticed someone else in the room. His unneeded breath caught in his throat when he saw Connor standing there, looking at him curiously. Angel was surprised to not see the animosity that was usually there. He could only wonder what had changed over the last few days.
A sudden thought occurred to him. He'd never told Buffy about Connor. His eyes flew to Buffy's, and she laughed a little.
"Chill Angel. I already knew about Con," Buffy said.
"You knew?" "Con?" father and son asked simultaneously.
Buffy rolled her eyes.
"You didn't really think I wouldn't find out about Connor, did you?" Buffy asked. "Angel, he's pretty big news. Although, your choice in who his mother was coulda been better."
Angel relaxed just a little. He couldn't believe that she wasn't yelling at him for not telling her. That she wasn't telling him off for being complacent and risking his soul to sleep with Darla. He took one of her hands in his and gently brought her fingertips to his lips.
"I wanted it to be you," he whispered.
Buffy smiled and squeezed his hand a little. "Me too."
They stared at each other for a few moments before they heard thunderous footsteps coming down the stairs. Buffy went to let go of Angel's hand, but he kept a grip on it, not tight enough for it to hurt, just enough to let her know that he didn't want to let go.
Gunn, Fred, Wesley, Cordelia, Lorne and the shaman all looked at Angel.
"Did it work?" Wesley asked.
Buffy, Connor and Angel all nodded. "One hundred percent success," Buffy assured them.
The group all smiled joyously. Cordelia bristled with anger.
"How do we know he's not lying again?" she asked. She couldn't believe that they would take Buffy's word for it when half of the team didn't even know her. They hadn't believed her when she'd confirmed that his soul was in place.
The shaman stepped forward. He looked intently at Angel before looking back to Wesley. "It is he. Angel, not Angelus."
Wesley nodded and shook the shamans hand gratefully.
"We can't thank you enough."
The shaman nodded before turning and walking back up the stairs, eagre to get away from the hotel and go back to his meditating. He was drained from the spell and he wanted nothing more than to rest.
"So, are we letting the puppy out of his cage?" Gunn asked playfully.
Angel rolled his eyes, wondering if he would ever live this down.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty much ready to sleep for the next week or so," Angel said.
The group all nodded emphatically, desperately tired. They still had to find a way to destroy the Beast, but until then, they needed to rejuvenate. Buffy took the keys that Wesley had given her earlier and threw them to her ex-Watcher. Wesley caught them deftly and stepped towards the cage.
"Are we sure about this?" Cordelia asked again.
"We're sure," Buffy replied.
"You'll have to excuse me if I don't believe you," Cordelia said snidely. "You couldn't kill Angelus after you were the one to set him loose, even after he killed your Watcher's girlfriend, so if he still is Angelus, then I don't want to take the chance of the Vampire Slayer not being able to take him out."
Angel tightened his grip on Buffy's hand, trying to give her comfort. He was surprised when Buffy didn't retaliate as she would have done so many years ago. It seemed that his Slayer had matured while the seer still had a long way to go.
"I can do that soul spell again if you don't believe me," Buffy offered. "But I'm telling you, it's in there."
"The shaman has never been wrong before," Wesley added. He placed the key in the lock and opened the cage door. Angel stepped out, almost afraid that his soul would disappear. The AI team watched him warily.
Angel stood for a moment, enjoying his new freedom. Without another word, he tugged on Buffy's wrist and pulled her into a tight hug, revelling in the feel of her small body against him. Buffy sighed happily, unable to believe how completely content she felt. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent that was uniquely Angel.
"And it starts," Cordelia commented.
Angel stiffened, but Buffy's small fist flattening to touch his back and rub in soothing circles stopped him from making any comments.
"Alright, so…now what?" Gunn asked.
"Honestly, I think the best thing we can do right now is sleep," Angel said. "We're all wiped, and we won't be able to do anything unless we're at full strength."
The group all nodded, thankful that they would finally get the chance to have some down time. They felt that they needed it after the last few days.
Angel looked down at Buffy. "Do you have to get back to Sunnydale right away?"
"I'll call Giles, see what he says. But…I'm pretty sure I can stay a little longer," she assured him.
He nodded and gave her a small smile. They had a lot of things they needed to talk about.
-----
Orright, I think last chappie's soul spell confused the crap outta some people, so:
Buffy's soul split into FOUR equal parts. Buffy, Connor, Dawn and Angel. Angel's QUARTER of BUFFY'S soul split into half between Angel and Angelus.
Angel's soul split into Two equal parts. Buffy and Angel.
Hope that helps. ;) As always, thank you for your reviews!! Coming up on next chapter: much Buffy/Angel reuiony cuteness. Awwww….lotsa mush!
K.