Title: Over The Next Horizon
Author: Karen
Email: karen@klewis91.fsnet.co.uk
Disclaimer: Not mine and never will be. Just the story I'm afraid.
Feedback: Yes please.
Pairing: A/C, W/S, Fr/Gu,
Timeline: After season six
Spoilers: Season six
Archiving: If you want it take it just tell me where it ends up.
Synopsis: Three months after Angel has been rescued from the deep, Cordy
has floated back down and Spike has been souled; Cordelia, Willow and Fred
are faced with a difficult choice. The lives of the people they love or
working for the dark side and life on the run. Guess which one they
choose?
Rating: Overall an R I think?
Spoilers: Seasons 5/6, Angel 2/3
Summary: Humour, Angst, Romance and lots of bloody bits of other people's
bodies if Spike gets his way. (Let's face it he will. Who could refuse
that man anything?)
Part 4a.
Fred twisted in terror and panic against the hands that held her as she watched her family burn. The smell of burning flesh and the sounds of anguished screams echoed in her ears as she sobbed frantically. Lilah Morgan stepped forward and shook her head in mock sorrow
"It's your fault. If you'd just been a bit quicker, that little bit more clever, then they'd be alive. You could have saved them."
Fred watched as Gunn fell to the floor and writhed in pain as he died. The skin peeled from his skull in blackened lumps and his eyes were fixed beseechingly on her as he stretched out a hand
"Charles, Charles!"
She sat bolt upright, awakened by her own screams and shook as the cold sweat trickled down her body. She pressed her hands into the mattress and gulped in the cold night air and desperately tried to reorient herself in the dim glow of the motel sign outside the window. She pulled the not quite clean blanket up to her chin and shivered as she forced the horrifying images of her boyfriend's death away from her. A month since she'd seen him and the nightmares were worse than ever. She'd started having them the first night away and they'd gotten progressively worse the longer she was gone. Slowly she leaned back until her head nestled on the pillow grateful that, this time, her scream hadn't brought Willow and Cordy running. Her hand crept under the pillow for the reassuring dagger that she habitually slept with ever since an enterprising hunter had broken into her room one night a couple of weeks ago. The smooth bone handle comforted her like a soft toy would a child and she sighed and forced her body to relax, willing sleep to come again. Her thoughts drifted as she tried to doze and she unwillingly went back to the worst night of her life so far, unconsciously scowling as Lilah Morgan's face appeared before her eyes.
"Then I say the word and they die tonight."
Fred felt the quick hard tremor that ran through Cordy at the lawyer's words and clamped her lips together to stop the wail of protest and fear that rose up in her throat. She waited for the seer to make the next move, confident that Cordelia would have something, anything, to stop Lilah dead in her tracks. The silence stretched unbearably and then, just when Fred thought she'd snap if the standoff continued any longer, Cordelia spoke
"Alright. We'll do it."
Fred gasped and felt the red head next to her tense with surprise at Cordelia's words but they both remained silent as the former May Queen continued
"We'll do it, but if anything happens to any of our people I will kill you."
Lilah smirked
"Empty threats, babe. Empty threats."
Cordelia took three quick paces forward until she was nose to nose with the older woman. She stared into surprised eyes and said levelly
"You think?"
Lilah swallowed uneasily at the calm eyes boring into her own and was conscious of the looks of her men and of Cordelia's girls as the seer calmly challenged her. The lawyer tried for a light laugh
"Don't threaten me, Ms. Chase, I make a powerful enemy."
Cordelia raised one shaped eyebrow and replied
"Right back atcha."
She held Lilah's gaze for another few moments and then stepped back
"Ok, let's get this thing moving."
She glanced back at her two friends and frowned as she looked at Willow. A bruise was shaping over her left eye and a livid welt poked out above her collar
"But first, who hurt Willow?"
Lilah looked at the red headed witch and shrugged
"Does it matter? Shouldn't you be focusing on more important things like getting out of town before the sun rises? You know, preventing your friends dying horribly?"
Cordelia let her eyes drift over the men standing around the edge of the hut and allowed a cold smile to drift onto her face
"Yeah, we'll get to that. In the meantime, who hurt my friend?"
Willow stepped forward
"Cordy, don't worry about it. Let's just do what we have to and get out of here."
Cordelia warmed up the smile as she glanced briefly at her friend and then allowed the ice to creep back into it as she stared at the men again
"Willow, I do worry about it. And I'm not leaving here until the guy, or guys, that did this admit it."
Silence fell and then, slowly, three men stepped forward, arrogantly staring down at the much smaller woman. Cordelia placed her hands on her hips once more and scanned them
"Ok, drop your guns and let's get this over with. I'm on a schedule here."
The three men exchanged confused looks and then looked to Lilah for guidance. The woman flicked her eyes between Cordelia and the hired muscle and then said with relish
"Do as she says. Obviously a lesson needs to be learned here."
Fred took Willow firmly by the arm and moved her to the side leaving Cordelia with a wide space in which to work. Willow pulled her arm from Fred's grip and started back to Cordelia
"What are you, nuts? Cordelia, stop it. You don't have to do this."
Fred grasped her arm again and pulled her back as the men separated and began to circle the seer
"Yes, she does."
She saw Cordelia roll her shoulders loosely to prepare for the fight and whispered
"Watch."
Willow focused on her friend and felt her jaw drop as Cordelia spun and kicked out kicking the nearest threat in the face and dropping him to the floor. She used the momentum from her kick to carry her around and then ducked a swing from the man behind her, elbowing him sharply in the groin as she crouched. The girl uncurled gracefully and brought her arm up fast keeping her hand flat and driving her palm with uncompromising force into the third man's nose. He screamed as his nose broke and blood poured from his nostrils. Cordelia moved swiftly past him to duck behind her first opponent who was climbing to his feet and pulled his arm sharply up and behind his back. She pushed forward and he toppled face first onto the floor, breaking her second nose of the night, and she planted her boot on his face to keep him down. She locked eyes with Lilah and then raised her other leg and kicked out at the man's straightened arm hitting perfectly against his rigid elbow. The snap echoed in the stunned silence and then the man began to scream as Cordelia stepped back and allowed his arm to fall giving a brief glimpse of the bone that had been forced through the skin.
She pushed her hair back casually and then reached down and hauled the second man, still clutching himself on the floor, to his feet. Her torso twisted and then her elbow slammed into his face and another wet snap was heard. Fred smiled
"Three for three."
Cordelia let him go and watched him drop to the floor and then moved to the first broken nose. He tried to back away as he saw her approach but Cordelia was too fast. She spun and kicked him in the stomach and then when he fell, snatched up his leg and held it rigid. She grinned down at him
"Never, never, touch what's mine again."
She raised her foot and smashed it down onto his knee and broke his leg cleanly, dropping the limb as he began to join his comrade in the anguished screaming. Her attention switched to the man with the aching groin and shattered nose and he scrambled pitifully along the floor as she stalked towards him.
She felt a stir of pity inside her at the stark terror in the man's eyes but then she thought of her friends, bound and helpless, and very calmly raised his arm and stamped down on his wrist, sending the bone shooting through the skin on the other side. She turned to Lilah
"Lesson learned. Class dismissed."
She straightened the sleeves of her top and walked back over to Willow and Fred adding dispassionately
"You might wanna get that guy to a hospital. Looks like the bone nicked a vein on the way through."
Fred nudged Willow as the redhead stared from the bodies on the floor to the serene look on Cordelia's face as she leaned casually against the wooden wall behind her. The witch's face was a study in amazement and confusion and she eyed Cordelia as though she had never seen her before. Then she realised that she really hadn't.
The past three years she had carried a picture in her mind of the cheerleader she used to know, always concerned with appearances and popularity, and she had never given a thought to how the other girl might have changed since leaving Sunnydale
"Willow, you look like a hayseed seeing the bright lights for the first time. Can we close the mouth and look a little less dumbstruck?"
Ok, so not changed beyond all recognition but, still, definitely grown.
Cordelia ignored the guns now pointed, slightly shakily, her way and nodded to Lilah almost cordially
"Ok, I'm all set. When do we leave?"
Lilah forced her eyes away from the three men lying in agony in their own blood on the floor and swallowed as she gestured behind her. One of the nameless minions stepped forward and handed her a bag and she reached inside to draw out a sealed pack of writing paper and envelopes. Cordelia smirked
"Well, you really have thought of everything haven't you? What are they vacuum packed so Angel won't smell your scent on them?"
Lilah nodded as she handed the paper gingerly to Willow
"Of course."
Cordy's heart sank and she managed to keep her face expressionless
Goddamn it!
They all took a sheet of paper and stared blankly at them for a few moments until Willow sighed
"Well, it's not gonna get any easier from looking at them."
The other two girls exchanged grim looks and then bent over the table that had been set up before them and picked up a pen each. Cordelia was the first to touch the pen to the paper and then Fred and Willow followed. There was silence for almost ten minutes in the hut and then the three girls straightened and wordlessly held out the papers to Lilah. The lawyer came closer until she could just read the handwriting, making sure she kept well away from all contact. She glanced over them then began to read aloud in a mocking tone of voice.
Angel,
It's been coming on for a while but I thought I could ignore it, I'm sorry I can't. Ever since I came back to this dimension I've felt smothered and out of control but I know what I have to do now. I'm leaving and before you go all Angelus and start freaking, please understand that this is what I want. What I thought was between us last these last few months was nothing more than gratitude on my part for showing me my true path in life. I know that this will hurt but I need to leave and make my own way and use my power the way it should be used. If I stay in LA, I'll never be anything more than your sidekick and I want so much more than that. I'll always care about you but I can't stay with you and carry on the way things are. My power is too great to be confined to the petty battles you fight and I need to be out in the world fighting the true fight. I hope you can understand. Kiss Connor for me and say goodbye to the guys.
Cordelia.
Lilah laughed mockingly
"Well, that'll hit where it hurts."
Cordelia stared back without expression, refusing to let the other woman know how much she was hurting inside. Fred straightened her spine as Lilah moved onto her note to Gunn
"Charles,
I know this is the coward's way but I couldn't face saying goodbye and explaining myself to you. I'm leaving and I don't want you to look for me. This last year has been very difficult for me and I've finally had to admit to myself how I feel. I'm in love with Wesley and I think I have been since the moment I saw him. When he took Connor I was angry but I also felt betrayed by him that he couldn't trust me. I realise now that the anger I felt towards him wasn't of a friend betrayed but as lover. I know that we can never be together, too much has happened for that, but it's too hard being in the same city day after day and being around everyone at the hotel who just remind me of what I can't have. I'm sorry that I've hurt you but I can't go on living like this. I hope you can forgive me one day
Fred"
Lilah wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and sniffed
"Really it's just too much. I can hardly bear it."
Fred narrowed her eyes and fought back tears as she hissed
"Bite me."
Cordelia smiled in admiration at her shyer friend's spirit and then she tensed as the lawyer bent forward to read Willow's letter
"Guys,
I'm going on a road trip and I don't know when I'll be back. It's too hard being around you all, especially Buffy, when Tara has gone. The constant fighting and danger has finally been too much and I have to get out. I don't know whether I'll come back and I don't know whether I'll ever be able to feel the way about you all that I did before but I really need the time to myself to figure it out. Don't worry about me and keep safe
Willow"
She raised her eyebrow
"Short and to the point."
Willow shrugged
"They won't come looking. They'll respect my decision."
Lilah studied her for a moment and then nodded shortly
"Fine. Outside is a truck. In the cab you'll find money and a bag each with a couple changes of clothing and some toiletries. In a manilla envelope in the glove box is all the information we have on the Light and the road to it. We'll follow you to the hotel and to a post box so you can drop off your little notes and then you'll have an escort out of town. I expect you to contact me every forty-eight hours at 11pm to update me on your situation. If you are more than five minutes late for the check-in then I will give the word and your little pals go up in smoke. If I get a hint that Angel or the Slayer know what's going on then, poof! Are we clear?"
Cordelia nodded and stepped forward, grinning as Lilah took a hurried step back to prevent any scent falling onto the paper that the seer held before her
"You'd better hope they stay alive. If I think for one minute they're not alive and kicking demon ass I'll come back here and kick yours. You got me?"
She stepped back and nodded to her friends
"Let's go."
The next two hours were the most emotionally painful Fred had ever experienced. The first stop was the hotel and running quickly and silently into the lobby, praying Angel or Connor wouldn't hear them. Next, Willow's note was dropped into the nearest mailbox and they were trailed to the city limits and then they were, finally, on their own.
Fred sat silently in the back of the large plush truck and watched the lights of LA disappear behind them as Cordelia floored the gas. She sat in stunned, heartbroken silence as Cordelia and Willow stared tensely out of the windscreen and pictured the boys as they found the notes in the morning. The hurt and confusion they would feel would be too much, she closed her eyes as tears leaked out and then gasped as Cordelia swung from the road and pulled into a roadside used car dealership.
Ten minutes later she sat in the back of a considerably less plush vehicle clenching her jaw in a vague attempt to safeguard her teeth from the nonexistent suspension and clutching six thousand dollars in used bills. Cordelia drove another few miles in angry silence and then, when the sun was high in the sky, swung off to a roadside diner.
"Let's go get something to eat."
She slammed out of the truck without waiting for an answer and marched through the swing doors without looking back. Willow turned and smiled gently at the dark haired girl behind her
"Cm'on, we'll feel better if we eat."
She reached back and squeezed Fred's loose hands gently and swung her door open. Fred watched her and then moved slowly to join her on the ground. Willow smiled again and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze
"Cm'on."
She gently led Fred to the diner and gave a weak giggle
"I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Willow and I'll be sharing your worst nightmare."
When the three girls were settled and had ordered coffee and breakfast, although Cordelia privately had her doubts about Willow and coffee, they sat in miserable silence until Fred said softly "I can't believe we have to do this. I've left Charles and we have to help bring a demon into the world. I can't believe they won." "Excuse me?"
Fred looked up into two shocked faces. Willow lowered her eyebrows and said
"They what now?"
Fred frowned back in confusion
"They won. We have to go and do their evil bidding. Y'all remember that, right?"
Cordelia and Willow exchanged incredulous looks and then Cordy said firmly
"We are doing no such thing! Fred, how could you even think that?" "But.but."
Cordelia leaned back as her coffee and English muffin was placed reverently in front of her by a moon eyed bus boy and then waited until he had walked slowly away before resuming
"Fred, we aren't doing anything of the kind. We ditched the probably- bugged-to-the- roof truck and picked up the Clampett's boneshaker for a reason, not just to make some dumbass beatnik statement." "But.but you said."
Cordy rolled her eyes impatiently
"Fred, get a grip!"
Willow placed her hand on the young Texan's arm
"Fred, we bought us some time. You didn't really think we're gonna go through with the whole stealing the Light of Good thing did you?"
Fred took a deep centring breath and tried to keep a tight grip on her sanity as it twisted and tried to break loose from her tenuous hold
"They're going to kill them if we don't do what they say."
Cordelia's gaze softened as she listened to the pitch of hysteria in the normally melodic voice and she spoke in a low comforting tone
"No they aren't, honey, because we aren't going to let them. We are going to go through the motions and we're going to look for this damn Light thingy because, if all else fails, we can use it to bargain with but we are not going to run around the country at the Lilah bitch's beck and call. Never, and I cannot stress this enough, gonna happen. Ever."
Fred gripped the edge of the table with both hands and watched as the tension turned her knuckles bone white. When she felt she could speak without stammering or sobbing she raised her eyes and stared into Cordelia's
"It's not?"
Willow rubbed a gentle hand on Fred's shoulder and slurped thankfully on her coffee putting the outsize cup back onto the table as she caught Cordelia's gimlet eye
"Sweetie, no! We bargain with the bad guys and we let them think they got game and then we trample all over their skanky asses and feed them to Buffy for tea."
Cordelia rolled her eyes and deftly snagged Willow's coffee, moving it out of sight, and reach, onto the seat beside her
"That's it I'm cutting you off. Can we say de-caff, Willow?"
She re-focused on Fred
"Honey, you've known me for a couple of years now. When was the last time I jumped to do an evil big bad's bidding?"
Fred shook her head
"Never."
Cordelia smiled
"Exactly. And I'm not starting now. All Lilah Morgan has managed to do is tip us off to the next apocalypse and how to stop it. We have time and we have resources and we are not going to run our butts off for her just because she thinks she has something on us." "We.we're not?"
Cordelia grinned her infamous 'kiss my ass' grin, last used when Angel found out she'd supplemented her winter wardrobe from the company credit card, and pushed back her floppy bangs
"Nope. We'll do some work on the tracking thingy but the first thing we do is get you guys a lap top and find a way to track down the guy who cast that spell. Willow, any thoughts?"
The red head looked up from sipping discreetly at Fred's coffee and sighed as Cordelia snatched that out of her hand also
"Watcher's database. There won't be many casters in the world with enough power for that big a spell over that many people. We can narrow it down from there."
Cordelia nodded
"Good thinking. Fred, I need you to get to work translating that stuff in the truck and working on the first clue. Willow, I also need you to find a way into Wolfram and Hart's database and get me anything they have on the guys and us. I want to make sure there's no way we can contact our people without tipping off the bad guys before we disappear for good. Also get me a list of all the surveillance techniques they're using and let's see if we can use something there."
Willow raised her eyebrows in stunned admiration
"Cordy, what happened to you? First you're, like, all Buffyfied and then you've turned into Giles. What's going on with you?"
Cordelia gave a smug grin
"Will, you know how I used to say I was so superior in high school and so much better than all of you?"
Willow nodded warily
"Well, turns out I was right! Cool, huh?"
Willow spluttered
"Wh.what?"
Fred smiled at the horrified look on the red head's face and said gently
"She's a higher being."
Incredulous green eyes swung round to stare at Fred and then back to Cordelia as she grinned in genuine amusement at her friend's reaction. Fred continued in the kind of voice normally used for small children and Xander
"She's a higher being. You know like better or something, right Cordy?"
Willow gaped at Fred as the girl spoke slowly and clearly to her and then managed to stammer
"Yo.you're a God?"
Cordelia laughed
"Nooo. Just better than you!"
She laughed again at the look on Willow's face and leant forward saying lightly
"Kidding! Chill, Willow, its no biggy. I got demonised to help Angel and I got some optional extras that's all. The Powers tried to put me to work in another dimension but it turned out I was needed here more so I came back."
She shrugged lightly
"Absolutely no worship required. I'm very low maintenance these days."
She looked back at Fred and said firmly
"We have no choice in having to leave town but don't ever think that just because the lawyer bitch has something over us that we're gonna crumble. Willow and I have been dealing with this stuff ever since we turned sixteen and it takes a lot more than threatening our friends to turn us into fake evil toadies. Right, Will?"
Willow nodded emphatically and pushed aside her astonishment at the whole higher being thing
"Absolutely. For world savage, no-one does it better."
She smiled at Cordelia and was startled to see the other girl aim a soft, misty-eyed grin back at her as untold nights of battling evil and trying to study at the same time were remembered and continued
"And I think under the circumstances we can vote in a new Scoob."
Cordelia laughed delightedly and swigged back the last of her coffee as Fred said
"What's a Scoob?" "We are. Well, me, Cordy, Xander, Giles, Buffy, Anya, Dawn and... Spike, I guess."
The last name was spoken doubtfully but Willow rallied admirably
"It's the name of the Sunnydale Protection Squad and once in never out. We fight the forces of dark and never surrender to evil and we get the Slayer's back when she takes on the big bad."
Cordelia interrupted
"And we keep an eye on Willow and coffee. Jeez, Willow, you're not fifteen anymore. De-caff!"
Willow blushed and Cordelia picked up the check and opened her wallet to pay as she continued
"Normally you only get in when you date a Scoob but I think in this case we can waive that clause unless you and Willow wanna."
She grinned at Willow's outraged expression
"No? Ok then, we just use our votes as two of the original members to get you in. All in favour?"
She waved her own hand cursorily in the air and Willow enthusiastically did the same nearly taking the bus boy's eye out with her caffeine-fuelled limb. Cordelia rolled her eyes
"Motion carried. Welcome to the Scooby gang, please check your dignity and average life expectancy at the door."
Fred laughed, uplifted by the other girls casual attitude to their predicament and their easy confidence in their eventual victory over their enemies
"Like I had that anyway! I lived in a cave for five years and then I met y'all and demons try to kill me on a daily basis."
Cordy swung an arm over her friend's shoulder
"We wanted you to feel one of the family." "I can't tell y'all how much I appreciate it."
Cordelia laughed at the dry tone and shouldered her way out the door
"We'll be back home before you know it. We've got a higher being, the biggest brainiac on two legs and a kick ass Wicca on our team, this will be easy."
Fred heard an uneasy clearing of a throat behind them as Willow said
"Yeah. Um, Cordy, about that whole Wicca thing?"
End of Part 4a.
Part 4a.
Fred twisted in terror and panic against the hands that held her as she watched her family burn. The smell of burning flesh and the sounds of anguished screams echoed in her ears as she sobbed frantically. Lilah Morgan stepped forward and shook her head in mock sorrow
"It's your fault. If you'd just been a bit quicker, that little bit more clever, then they'd be alive. You could have saved them."
Fred watched as Gunn fell to the floor and writhed in pain as he died. The skin peeled from his skull in blackened lumps and his eyes were fixed beseechingly on her as he stretched out a hand
"Charles, Charles!"
She sat bolt upright, awakened by her own screams and shook as the cold sweat trickled down her body. She pressed her hands into the mattress and gulped in the cold night air and desperately tried to reorient herself in the dim glow of the motel sign outside the window. She pulled the not quite clean blanket up to her chin and shivered as she forced the horrifying images of her boyfriend's death away from her. A month since she'd seen him and the nightmares were worse than ever. She'd started having them the first night away and they'd gotten progressively worse the longer she was gone. Slowly she leaned back until her head nestled on the pillow grateful that, this time, her scream hadn't brought Willow and Cordy running. Her hand crept under the pillow for the reassuring dagger that she habitually slept with ever since an enterprising hunter had broken into her room one night a couple of weeks ago. The smooth bone handle comforted her like a soft toy would a child and she sighed and forced her body to relax, willing sleep to come again. Her thoughts drifted as she tried to doze and she unwillingly went back to the worst night of her life so far, unconsciously scowling as Lilah Morgan's face appeared before her eyes.
"Then I say the word and they die tonight."
Fred felt the quick hard tremor that ran through Cordy at the lawyer's words and clamped her lips together to stop the wail of protest and fear that rose up in her throat. She waited for the seer to make the next move, confident that Cordelia would have something, anything, to stop Lilah dead in her tracks. The silence stretched unbearably and then, just when Fred thought she'd snap if the standoff continued any longer, Cordelia spoke
"Alright. We'll do it."
Fred gasped and felt the red head next to her tense with surprise at Cordelia's words but they both remained silent as the former May Queen continued
"We'll do it, but if anything happens to any of our people I will kill you."
Lilah smirked
"Empty threats, babe. Empty threats."
Cordelia took three quick paces forward until she was nose to nose with the older woman. She stared into surprised eyes and said levelly
"You think?"
Lilah swallowed uneasily at the calm eyes boring into her own and was conscious of the looks of her men and of Cordelia's girls as the seer calmly challenged her. The lawyer tried for a light laugh
"Don't threaten me, Ms. Chase, I make a powerful enemy."
Cordelia raised one shaped eyebrow and replied
"Right back atcha."
She held Lilah's gaze for another few moments and then stepped back
"Ok, let's get this thing moving."
She glanced back at her two friends and frowned as she looked at Willow. A bruise was shaping over her left eye and a livid welt poked out above her collar
"But first, who hurt Willow?"
Lilah looked at the red headed witch and shrugged
"Does it matter? Shouldn't you be focusing on more important things like getting out of town before the sun rises? You know, preventing your friends dying horribly?"
Cordelia let her eyes drift over the men standing around the edge of the hut and allowed a cold smile to drift onto her face
"Yeah, we'll get to that. In the meantime, who hurt my friend?"
Willow stepped forward
"Cordy, don't worry about it. Let's just do what we have to and get out of here."
Cordelia warmed up the smile as she glanced briefly at her friend and then allowed the ice to creep back into it as she stared at the men again
"Willow, I do worry about it. And I'm not leaving here until the guy, or guys, that did this admit it."
Silence fell and then, slowly, three men stepped forward, arrogantly staring down at the much smaller woman. Cordelia placed her hands on her hips once more and scanned them
"Ok, drop your guns and let's get this over with. I'm on a schedule here."
The three men exchanged confused looks and then looked to Lilah for guidance. The woman flicked her eyes between Cordelia and the hired muscle and then said with relish
"Do as she says. Obviously a lesson needs to be learned here."
Fred took Willow firmly by the arm and moved her to the side leaving Cordelia with a wide space in which to work. Willow pulled her arm from Fred's grip and started back to Cordelia
"What are you, nuts? Cordelia, stop it. You don't have to do this."
Fred grasped her arm again and pulled her back as the men separated and began to circle the seer
"Yes, she does."
She saw Cordelia roll her shoulders loosely to prepare for the fight and whispered
"Watch."
Willow focused on her friend and felt her jaw drop as Cordelia spun and kicked out kicking the nearest threat in the face and dropping him to the floor. She used the momentum from her kick to carry her around and then ducked a swing from the man behind her, elbowing him sharply in the groin as she crouched. The girl uncurled gracefully and brought her arm up fast keeping her hand flat and driving her palm with uncompromising force into the third man's nose. He screamed as his nose broke and blood poured from his nostrils. Cordelia moved swiftly past him to duck behind her first opponent who was climbing to his feet and pulled his arm sharply up and behind his back. She pushed forward and he toppled face first onto the floor, breaking her second nose of the night, and she planted her boot on his face to keep him down. She locked eyes with Lilah and then raised her other leg and kicked out at the man's straightened arm hitting perfectly against his rigid elbow. The snap echoed in the stunned silence and then the man began to scream as Cordelia stepped back and allowed his arm to fall giving a brief glimpse of the bone that had been forced through the skin.
She pushed her hair back casually and then reached down and hauled the second man, still clutching himself on the floor, to his feet. Her torso twisted and then her elbow slammed into his face and another wet snap was heard. Fred smiled
"Three for three."
Cordelia let him go and watched him drop to the floor and then moved to the first broken nose. He tried to back away as he saw her approach but Cordelia was too fast. She spun and kicked him in the stomach and then when he fell, snatched up his leg and held it rigid. She grinned down at him
"Never, never, touch what's mine again."
She raised her foot and smashed it down onto his knee and broke his leg cleanly, dropping the limb as he began to join his comrade in the anguished screaming. Her attention switched to the man with the aching groin and shattered nose and he scrambled pitifully along the floor as she stalked towards him.
She felt a stir of pity inside her at the stark terror in the man's eyes but then she thought of her friends, bound and helpless, and very calmly raised his arm and stamped down on his wrist, sending the bone shooting through the skin on the other side. She turned to Lilah
"Lesson learned. Class dismissed."
She straightened the sleeves of her top and walked back over to Willow and Fred adding dispassionately
"You might wanna get that guy to a hospital. Looks like the bone nicked a vein on the way through."
Fred nudged Willow as the redhead stared from the bodies on the floor to the serene look on Cordelia's face as she leaned casually against the wooden wall behind her. The witch's face was a study in amazement and confusion and she eyed Cordelia as though she had never seen her before. Then she realised that she really hadn't.
The past three years she had carried a picture in her mind of the cheerleader she used to know, always concerned with appearances and popularity, and she had never given a thought to how the other girl might have changed since leaving Sunnydale
"Willow, you look like a hayseed seeing the bright lights for the first time. Can we close the mouth and look a little less dumbstruck?"
Ok, so not changed beyond all recognition but, still, definitely grown.
Cordelia ignored the guns now pointed, slightly shakily, her way and nodded to Lilah almost cordially
"Ok, I'm all set. When do we leave?"
Lilah forced her eyes away from the three men lying in agony in their own blood on the floor and swallowed as she gestured behind her. One of the nameless minions stepped forward and handed her a bag and she reached inside to draw out a sealed pack of writing paper and envelopes. Cordelia smirked
"Well, you really have thought of everything haven't you? What are they vacuum packed so Angel won't smell your scent on them?"
Lilah nodded as she handed the paper gingerly to Willow
"Of course."
Cordy's heart sank and she managed to keep her face expressionless
Goddamn it!
They all took a sheet of paper and stared blankly at them for a few moments until Willow sighed
"Well, it's not gonna get any easier from looking at them."
The other two girls exchanged grim looks and then bent over the table that had been set up before them and picked up a pen each. Cordelia was the first to touch the pen to the paper and then Fred and Willow followed. There was silence for almost ten minutes in the hut and then the three girls straightened and wordlessly held out the papers to Lilah. The lawyer came closer until she could just read the handwriting, making sure she kept well away from all contact. She glanced over them then began to read aloud in a mocking tone of voice.
Angel,
It's been coming on for a while but I thought I could ignore it, I'm sorry I can't. Ever since I came back to this dimension I've felt smothered and out of control but I know what I have to do now. I'm leaving and before you go all Angelus and start freaking, please understand that this is what I want. What I thought was between us last these last few months was nothing more than gratitude on my part for showing me my true path in life. I know that this will hurt but I need to leave and make my own way and use my power the way it should be used. If I stay in LA, I'll never be anything more than your sidekick and I want so much more than that. I'll always care about you but I can't stay with you and carry on the way things are. My power is too great to be confined to the petty battles you fight and I need to be out in the world fighting the true fight. I hope you can understand. Kiss Connor for me and say goodbye to the guys.
Cordelia.
Lilah laughed mockingly
"Well, that'll hit where it hurts."
Cordelia stared back without expression, refusing to let the other woman know how much she was hurting inside. Fred straightened her spine as Lilah moved onto her note to Gunn
"Charles,
I know this is the coward's way but I couldn't face saying goodbye and explaining myself to you. I'm leaving and I don't want you to look for me. This last year has been very difficult for me and I've finally had to admit to myself how I feel. I'm in love with Wesley and I think I have been since the moment I saw him. When he took Connor I was angry but I also felt betrayed by him that he couldn't trust me. I realise now that the anger I felt towards him wasn't of a friend betrayed but as lover. I know that we can never be together, too much has happened for that, but it's too hard being in the same city day after day and being around everyone at the hotel who just remind me of what I can't have. I'm sorry that I've hurt you but I can't go on living like this. I hope you can forgive me one day
Fred"
Lilah wiped an imaginary tear from her eye and sniffed
"Really it's just too much. I can hardly bear it."
Fred narrowed her eyes and fought back tears as she hissed
"Bite me."
Cordelia smiled in admiration at her shyer friend's spirit and then she tensed as the lawyer bent forward to read Willow's letter
"Guys,
I'm going on a road trip and I don't know when I'll be back. It's too hard being around you all, especially Buffy, when Tara has gone. The constant fighting and danger has finally been too much and I have to get out. I don't know whether I'll come back and I don't know whether I'll ever be able to feel the way about you all that I did before but I really need the time to myself to figure it out. Don't worry about me and keep safe
Willow"
She raised her eyebrow
"Short and to the point."
Willow shrugged
"They won't come looking. They'll respect my decision."
Lilah studied her for a moment and then nodded shortly
"Fine. Outside is a truck. In the cab you'll find money and a bag each with a couple changes of clothing and some toiletries. In a manilla envelope in the glove box is all the information we have on the Light and the road to it. We'll follow you to the hotel and to a post box so you can drop off your little notes and then you'll have an escort out of town. I expect you to contact me every forty-eight hours at 11pm to update me on your situation. If you are more than five minutes late for the check-in then I will give the word and your little pals go up in smoke. If I get a hint that Angel or the Slayer know what's going on then, poof! Are we clear?"
Cordelia nodded and stepped forward, grinning as Lilah took a hurried step back to prevent any scent falling onto the paper that the seer held before her
"You'd better hope they stay alive. If I think for one minute they're not alive and kicking demon ass I'll come back here and kick yours. You got me?"
She stepped back and nodded to her friends
"Let's go."
The next two hours were the most emotionally painful Fred had ever experienced. The first stop was the hotel and running quickly and silently into the lobby, praying Angel or Connor wouldn't hear them. Next, Willow's note was dropped into the nearest mailbox and they were trailed to the city limits and then they were, finally, on their own.
Fred sat silently in the back of the large plush truck and watched the lights of LA disappear behind them as Cordelia floored the gas. She sat in stunned, heartbroken silence as Cordelia and Willow stared tensely out of the windscreen and pictured the boys as they found the notes in the morning. The hurt and confusion they would feel would be too much, she closed her eyes as tears leaked out and then gasped as Cordelia swung from the road and pulled into a roadside used car dealership.
Ten minutes later she sat in the back of a considerably less plush vehicle clenching her jaw in a vague attempt to safeguard her teeth from the nonexistent suspension and clutching six thousand dollars in used bills. Cordelia drove another few miles in angry silence and then, when the sun was high in the sky, swung off to a roadside diner.
"Let's go get something to eat."
She slammed out of the truck without waiting for an answer and marched through the swing doors without looking back. Willow turned and smiled gently at the dark haired girl behind her
"Cm'on, we'll feel better if we eat."
She reached back and squeezed Fred's loose hands gently and swung her door open. Fred watched her and then moved slowly to join her on the ground. Willow smiled again and put an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle squeeze
"Cm'on."
She gently led Fred to the diner and gave a weak giggle
"I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Willow and I'll be sharing your worst nightmare."
When the three girls were settled and had ordered coffee and breakfast, although Cordelia privately had her doubts about Willow and coffee, they sat in miserable silence until Fred said softly "I can't believe we have to do this. I've left Charles and we have to help bring a demon into the world. I can't believe they won." "Excuse me?"
Fred looked up into two shocked faces. Willow lowered her eyebrows and said
"They what now?"
Fred frowned back in confusion
"They won. We have to go and do their evil bidding. Y'all remember that, right?"
Cordelia and Willow exchanged incredulous looks and then Cordy said firmly
"We are doing no such thing! Fred, how could you even think that?" "But.but."
Cordelia leaned back as her coffee and English muffin was placed reverently in front of her by a moon eyed bus boy and then waited until he had walked slowly away before resuming
"Fred, we aren't doing anything of the kind. We ditched the probably- bugged-to-the- roof truck and picked up the Clampett's boneshaker for a reason, not just to make some dumbass beatnik statement." "But.but you said."
Cordy rolled her eyes impatiently
"Fred, get a grip!"
Willow placed her hand on the young Texan's arm
"Fred, we bought us some time. You didn't really think we're gonna go through with the whole stealing the Light of Good thing did you?"
Fred took a deep centring breath and tried to keep a tight grip on her sanity as it twisted and tried to break loose from her tenuous hold
"They're going to kill them if we don't do what they say."
Cordelia's gaze softened as she listened to the pitch of hysteria in the normally melodic voice and she spoke in a low comforting tone
"No they aren't, honey, because we aren't going to let them. We are going to go through the motions and we're going to look for this damn Light thingy because, if all else fails, we can use it to bargain with but we are not going to run around the country at the Lilah bitch's beck and call. Never, and I cannot stress this enough, gonna happen. Ever."
Fred gripped the edge of the table with both hands and watched as the tension turned her knuckles bone white. When she felt she could speak without stammering or sobbing she raised her eyes and stared into Cordelia's
"It's not?"
Willow rubbed a gentle hand on Fred's shoulder and slurped thankfully on her coffee putting the outsize cup back onto the table as she caught Cordelia's gimlet eye
"Sweetie, no! We bargain with the bad guys and we let them think they got game and then we trample all over their skanky asses and feed them to Buffy for tea."
Cordelia rolled her eyes and deftly snagged Willow's coffee, moving it out of sight, and reach, onto the seat beside her
"That's it I'm cutting you off. Can we say de-caff, Willow?"
She re-focused on Fred
"Honey, you've known me for a couple of years now. When was the last time I jumped to do an evil big bad's bidding?"
Fred shook her head
"Never."
Cordelia smiled
"Exactly. And I'm not starting now. All Lilah Morgan has managed to do is tip us off to the next apocalypse and how to stop it. We have time and we have resources and we are not going to run our butts off for her just because she thinks she has something on us." "We.we're not?"
Cordelia grinned her infamous 'kiss my ass' grin, last used when Angel found out she'd supplemented her winter wardrobe from the company credit card, and pushed back her floppy bangs
"Nope. We'll do some work on the tracking thingy but the first thing we do is get you guys a lap top and find a way to track down the guy who cast that spell. Willow, any thoughts?"
The red head looked up from sipping discreetly at Fred's coffee and sighed as Cordelia snatched that out of her hand also
"Watcher's database. There won't be many casters in the world with enough power for that big a spell over that many people. We can narrow it down from there."
Cordelia nodded
"Good thinking. Fred, I need you to get to work translating that stuff in the truck and working on the first clue. Willow, I also need you to find a way into Wolfram and Hart's database and get me anything they have on the guys and us. I want to make sure there's no way we can contact our people without tipping off the bad guys before we disappear for good. Also get me a list of all the surveillance techniques they're using and let's see if we can use something there."
Willow raised her eyebrows in stunned admiration
"Cordy, what happened to you? First you're, like, all Buffyfied and then you've turned into Giles. What's going on with you?"
Cordelia gave a smug grin
"Will, you know how I used to say I was so superior in high school and so much better than all of you?"
Willow nodded warily
"Well, turns out I was right! Cool, huh?"
Willow spluttered
"Wh.what?"
Fred smiled at the horrified look on the red head's face and said gently
"She's a higher being."
Incredulous green eyes swung round to stare at Fred and then back to Cordelia as she grinned in genuine amusement at her friend's reaction. Fred continued in the kind of voice normally used for small children and Xander
"She's a higher being. You know like better or something, right Cordy?"
Willow gaped at Fred as the girl spoke slowly and clearly to her and then managed to stammer
"Yo.you're a God?"
Cordelia laughed
"Nooo. Just better than you!"
She laughed again at the look on Willow's face and leant forward saying lightly
"Kidding! Chill, Willow, its no biggy. I got demonised to help Angel and I got some optional extras that's all. The Powers tried to put me to work in another dimension but it turned out I was needed here more so I came back."
She shrugged lightly
"Absolutely no worship required. I'm very low maintenance these days."
She looked back at Fred and said firmly
"We have no choice in having to leave town but don't ever think that just because the lawyer bitch has something over us that we're gonna crumble. Willow and I have been dealing with this stuff ever since we turned sixteen and it takes a lot more than threatening our friends to turn us into fake evil toadies. Right, Will?"
Willow nodded emphatically and pushed aside her astonishment at the whole higher being thing
"Absolutely. For world savage, no-one does it better."
She smiled at Cordelia and was startled to see the other girl aim a soft, misty-eyed grin back at her as untold nights of battling evil and trying to study at the same time were remembered and continued
"And I think under the circumstances we can vote in a new Scoob."
Cordelia laughed delightedly and swigged back the last of her coffee as Fred said
"What's a Scoob?" "We are. Well, me, Cordy, Xander, Giles, Buffy, Anya, Dawn and... Spike, I guess."
The last name was spoken doubtfully but Willow rallied admirably
"It's the name of the Sunnydale Protection Squad and once in never out. We fight the forces of dark and never surrender to evil and we get the Slayer's back when she takes on the big bad."
Cordelia interrupted
"And we keep an eye on Willow and coffee. Jeez, Willow, you're not fifteen anymore. De-caff!"
Willow blushed and Cordelia picked up the check and opened her wallet to pay as she continued
"Normally you only get in when you date a Scoob but I think in this case we can waive that clause unless you and Willow wanna."
She grinned at Willow's outraged expression
"No? Ok then, we just use our votes as two of the original members to get you in. All in favour?"
She waved her own hand cursorily in the air and Willow enthusiastically did the same nearly taking the bus boy's eye out with her caffeine-fuelled limb. Cordelia rolled her eyes
"Motion carried. Welcome to the Scooby gang, please check your dignity and average life expectancy at the door."
Fred laughed, uplifted by the other girls casual attitude to their predicament and their easy confidence in their eventual victory over their enemies
"Like I had that anyway! I lived in a cave for five years and then I met y'all and demons try to kill me on a daily basis."
Cordy swung an arm over her friend's shoulder
"We wanted you to feel one of the family." "I can't tell y'all how much I appreciate it."
Cordelia laughed at the dry tone and shouldered her way out the door
"We'll be back home before you know it. We've got a higher being, the biggest brainiac on two legs and a kick ass Wicca on our team, this will be easy."
Fred heard an uneasy clearing of a throat behind them as Willow said
"Yeah. Um, Cordy, about that whole Wicca thing?"
End of Part 4a.