Author: Meltha
Rating: G, at this point.
Feedback: Yes, thank you. Melpomenethalia@aol.com
Spoilers: Casting spoilers for Angel season five: specifically, the two major casting spoilers. If you have no idea what I mean, it's probably better to wait to read this until after at least the first episode.
Distribution: Fanfiction.net and the Bunny Warren. If you're interested, please let me know.
Summary: A sequel to "The Other Side" of sorts. Spike has helped save the world and has earned a bit of rest, but it seems that other plans are in store for him.
Author's Note: Parts of this will make precious little sense unless you've read "The Other Side." Also, aside from knowing one character is being added and one subtracted from Angel, I don't know any spoilers, so this is just my odd (and probably incredibly naïve) version of what might have happened to our dear William.
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose characters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy. Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you. Thank you.
Part 2Drusilla nodded, then sent out a mental call to the others. An immediate fanfare of loud trumpets blasted through the air as one girl popped into being with a blizzard of golden confetti in the middle of the room.
"That is beginning to wear on me," Dru mumbled to herself.
Spike stared at the vaguely familiar, tall, blonde woman. Something tugged in the back of his brain, but it was a full second before he remembered who she was.
"Cordelia?" he asked uncertainly.
"Duh," she responded. "Who'd you think it was, peroxide brain?"
"Wouldn't go throwing stones at the moment, blondie," he countered. "So, Legs here is one. Where's the other?"
"Um, hi," said a voice from behind him, making him jump a good six inches in the air. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you or anything."
Spike turned around slowly and blinked. "Tara? What the blue blazes are you doing stuck here?" The rather stricken look she gave him immediately brought William to the forefront. "Not that I'm not glad to see you again. Rough deal you got there. Sorry about that Warren blighter."
"S'okay," Tara replied softly, but a glint was in her eyes. "He's more than taken care of now, at any rate."
"Okay, if I've got this straight then, Dru, Cordelia over there must be the one technically still alive and Tara, of course, belongs in the big happy-happy land in the sky, right?" Spike asked.
"Pretty much," Cordelia interrupted. "See, my body got car-jacked by some loser lower Power which then got me pregnant by Angel's kid with Darla and left my body with stupid stretchmarks! I mean, hello, it'd be bad enough with a regular rug rat, but giving birth to a full grown woman? Do you have any idea how much liberal applications of cocoa butter would do nothing?"
Spike stared at her, then looked at Drusilla. "I've gone crazy again, haven't I?"
"No," Drusilla said, hiding a smile. "You're quite in your right mind. She's right. A rather unpleasant member of the Powers That Be lured Cordelia's soul out of her body and used it in order to have itself born. Angel defeated it a couple days ago."
"Wait… Darla was in the family way when I was up here last time. That wasn't even two years ago! How did you…" Spike said, completely overwhelmed.
"Big glowing portal, hell dimension, time lapse, yadda yadda yadda," Cordelia explained as she sat down next to Harmony by the hearth. "It's kinda like when those soap operas send a seven-year-old kid to school in Switzerland and they come back three weeks later and eleven years older. Except, you know, this was for real. Geez, did they not have comfortable chairs back in your day?"
With a loud harp glisando, Cordy brought into being a sleek, tangerine-colored leather chair that honestly looked ten times more uncomfortable than any other seat in the room because of its bizarre lines, but definitely would have been at home in any high fashion photo shoot. Harmony looked up, ooohed loudly, then promptly made a matching chair for herself in a shade of bubblegum pink.
Tara, meanwhile, was hovering to one side of the group and glancing nervously at the book titles that filled the shelves of the room. Drusilla went over to her and put a sheltering arm around her, guiding her gently back towards the group. She knew that the other girl's soul tended to shy away from Cordelia, her loudness reminding her a bit unpleasantly of a certain other person who was currently involved with a certain red-headed witch. In truth, other than being very opinionated, Cordelia hadn't really been so bad. Drusilla had taken a long look at Cordelia's soul and was surprised to see it had continued increasing in light. She had a good heart, at least.
"Yes, well, now that we're all settled," Drusilla prompted them, "perhaps it would be best to explain to William here just what's happening, eh?"
"Oh, um, right," said Tara with an embarassed face. "By the way, congratulations. You really did a great job, Spike. Um, should I call you Spike or William?"
Spike tilted his head thoughtfully. "Not really sure. Both of us are in here. Either will do."
"Okay," she said with a smile. "Well, I'm sort of here on my own volition, but I think it might make it easier on you if you know why. See, I had a chance to go on, but, well, there were some consequences from being involved with that resurrection spell of Willow's."
"Not the brightest thing the witch ever did, but that was her problem, not yours," Spike said bluntly. "Anyways, she and Buffy have patched things up now. She's under control again."
Tara's smile brightened. "Yeah, glad to see that. But, still, I feel sort of responsible for taking part in what happened, even if I didn't really know what was going on. I did know it was wrong, but I didn't want to fight Willow on it, and because of that the whole universe practically, well…"
"Imploded?" Cordy finished helpfully.
"Pretty much," Tara said with a grimace. "See, Buffy getting pulled out of Limbo like that weaked the borders between Earth and all the different realms out there, including the one the First usually stays in. They sealed up again, but it took them a while to get as strong as they were before, and while they were still weakened…"
Spike groaned, "The First 'broke on through to the other side,' as they say, and that's how it managed to nearly wipe the world into hell?"
Drusilla nodded. "Yes. Giles and Anya knew, but they never told anyone. Of course, we saw what was happening. We've been trying to do damage control up here for a while, and we did have some success. You noticed that the Turok-Hans became less strong since Buffy first had to fight them?"
"Wondered how she was suddenly able to take out a slew of 'em when she'd barely survived an attack of one earlier, yeah," Spike said slowly. "Chalked it up to eating her Wheaties or something."
"Well, Wheaties was us," Cordy said flatly. "You have no idea how much work it took to sap the strength of the First enough to weaken those guys."
Harmony nodded sagely. "My hair went all flat."
"Anyway, though," Tara continued, "I wanted to stay long enough to help here as much as I could. It seemed only right."
Drusilla squeezed her hand tightly. "We were very lucky to have such a good ally on our side. It wasn't necessary for you to delay your reward, dear heart, but we greatly appreciate it."
Tara blushed brightly, then said "I may be staying for a while yet, I think."
"Battle's over, luv," Spike pointed out. "You've done more than your share by anyone's account."
Cordy snorted loudly. "Spike, you doofus, the battle is never over. Thought you would have gotten that by now, what with being all 'champion' boy."
"Yeah, the war keeps going, but her part in it's over," Spike almost growled. "Let the poor thing have some peace. She's more than earned it."
"That's what I keep telling her," Cordy said loudly. "But will she listen? No."
Drusilla intervened quickly. "Yes, well, the problem here actually is Cordelia."
"Huh?" Spike said in confusion. "I don't follow."
"I was Angel's link to the Powers That Be. They sent me these visions that were pretty much blowing a hole in the back of my head. Mind numbing pain. Really bad," she said grumpily.
"I hear ya," Spike said. "Been there; well, not with the visions, but cranial pain is no stranger."
"Anyway, when this Jasmine-Power-maggot-thingy got born, she threw me into a coma, and it's turning out to be a permanent thing," Cordelia explained. "I'm guessing it won't be much longer before lights out."
"Tough break," Spike commisserated.
Cordelia nodded fervently. "It pretty much sucks. But that's not the really big problem. Angel's lost his connection to what he's supposed to be doing down there, which could lead to big problems. Angelus-level big. As it is, he's working for an openly evil law firm now. Not exactly his most brilliant plan, which is saying a lot. He needs a guide, but, like all men, is he willing to stop and ask for directions on his own? Of course not."
"Why don't the Powers just pick another one of his people to be their link?" Spike asked.
"Because whoever it is needs to be at least part demon, and none of them are… well, except Lorne. He's all demon, but when Wolfram & Hart broke into his skull last year, they weakened his bone structure so badly that even one vision would kill him," Cordelia said. "Anyone else will wind up with the back of his or her head blown wide open eventually. Not a pleasant way to go."
"What about one of our crew?" Spike suggested. "Anya was completely a demon for a while only a few months ago. She's human now, but there might be some residual effects."
A volley of looks shot around the room at light speed.
"William," Drusilla said softly, "Anya died in the battle."
"Oh," said Spike, not quite sure what to say. "That's… unexpected. Should have had a good, long life ahead of her, that one. I liked her. She isn't here, is she?"
"No," Drusilla said. "She'd made a few rather large mistakes in her life, but you'd be surprised how many errors are erased by being martyred while fending off Armageddon. She's safely home now."
Spike nodded. "Still feel lousy about it, though. We lose any others?"
"Amanda was killed, along with several others who you wouldn't know," Drusilla said sadly.
"Amanda? Nibblet's friend?" Spike asked with a sigh. "Poor thing. That girl's lost too many people at her young age."
"She's okay, though," Tara said, almost startling the others with her sudden input. "I mean, she'll be okay. I keep a pretty close watch on her."
"Easy to turn that one into a favorite, isn't it?" Spike said with a guilty grin. "Brings out that whole sibling protectiveness thing."
Tara nodded in agreement, smiling at the strange bond she felt with this version of Spike. She may have been able to joke with him a little on earth, but this time, with the soul added, she couldn't help feeling a bit of a kinship with him. William and she were a lot alike in many respects.
"Anyway, to bring this back to my problem, which, hello, is the focus here," Cordelia said with slight irritation, "I'm about to check on out of my Human Hotel, if you get my drift, and Angel has nobody to be his link to the Powers That Be. No one. Nada. This is going to get seriously bad unless we do something."
Spike glanced at her and had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. She couldn't possibly be suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. It was impossible. It was ridiculous.