-'And Justice for All.'-
Pairings: a little angst for right now, something more substantial later.
A/N: This is the sequel to Enter Sandman, Sad But True, and Eye of the Beholder. Actions have consequences. Justice is served.
A/N 2: God knows you can't write more unless you get reviews.
Disclaimers: I don't own anything relating to Buffy, Angel, or Metallica.
Timeframe: S2 AU. Maybe I stole a little from S3 "The Wish."
Dedicated to the ones you can't save, and to the ones you can.
////////////////////////////////////
Xander felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He spun around to see a ragged-looking ex-cheerleader charge into the library. "Cordelia!"
Cordelia had seen better times. Her hair had been cropped short. She wore dirty blue jeans with a dirty tan top and brown leather jacket. In her left hand she had one of Xander's Glocks that he had 'obtained' earlier that month. In the other hand was a small wooden cross. She blinked and shook her head in disbelief. "Xander?"
"What the hell is going on? One second I'm walk...OMPH." He was cut off by an enthusiastic fierce kiss and tackled to the floor.
"Oh my God Xander, I thought you were dead. I saw you talking with Willow, the next Anya found you passed out in the middle of the hall. Then Mrs. Calendar died, Willow died, Oz died, Giles died. Everyone's dead."
Xander felt himself being crushed by Cordelia's surprisingly strong grip. Cordelia held on for dear life. He had already been taken away from her, as everyone else had been.
"Cordy," Xander pried her off long enough to look her in the eyes. Tears ran down her face and her bottom lip trembled. "Tell me what happened."
////////////////////////////////////////
Xander sat in silence. Everyone was dead. Cordy had said it herself. He didn't want to believe her, or Giles' journal, but the proof was there, all around him. She was able to hotwire a dodge and was driving them to the outskirts of town. He saw just massive destruction. Some buildings were left standing, but they seemed empty. Cordelia had said that after Buffy was killed, Giles took it upon himself to gather as many people as he could to the high school and try to reason with them. To make them realize what was happening in the town. Unfortunately, Angelus heard of it and sent a horde of demons after them. Only Cordelia and three others were able to escape. Angelus left the bodies there as a warning. The times that they had tried to go and bury the dead, Angelus and his minions were able to kill two of the survivors, Jonathan and Larry.
Cordelia finished her story just as they pulled up to a small two-story house in the middle of a clearing. Cordelia got out of the car, followed shortly by Xander. He stopped and looked around the landscape. The lawn around the house was completely barren except for some markings and lumps in the ground. He turned to Cordelia. "Is that what I think it is?"
The brunette smiled. "Yeah, after Alca...after we moved here, we thought it would be a good idea to...protect ourselves."
Xander shook his head, allowing himself a small smile as they walked up to the front door. "I would consider the amount of land mines you have surrounding this place _very_ good protection. And who exactly is 'ourselves?'"
A voice interrupted him. "Oh come on Xander, just because I wasn't part of the infamous 'Scooby Gang,' doesn't mean that I couldn't take care of myself."
Xander turned to see a slightly familiar blond head walk towards him. "Hey Amy. How are you doing?"
Amy Madison gave a small grin before responding. "Real shitty. You?"
Xander looked back at Cordelia before walking into the house. "Yeah pretty much the same...except I had a nice long nap."
////////////////////////////////////
Xander sat at a small round dinner table. The soft glow of candlelight illuminated the room. Cordelia said that the electric cable didn't run this way, nor did anything else for that matter. It was one of the reasons they were able to keep themselves safe. Also, they had dry, warm clothes, which he was happy to change into. He looked at his eggs. They weren't bad, a little runny and salty, but otherwise...edible. He took another bite and looked up at his current saviors. Amy was looking at him with a small smile, like he was a pleasant surprise, another person to talk to. Cordelia gave him little, wistful stares when she thought that he wasn't looking. Something was different about her. He pushed his plate a little forward. "So..."
Amy took another bite of her eggs and put her fork on the table. "So..."
Cordelia smiled and put her hand over his. "Its good to have you back."
Xander smiled and took another bite. "Its good to be back."
Amy shook her head and looked a little crestfallen. "Its not that good."
Cordelia put a hand on her shoulder. "We're alive aren't we? We're not dead, or turned. I consider that _very_ good."
Xander spoke up. "How did you survive?"
The two looked at him with guilty faces. "I don't mean it like that, but how were you able to escape, or how did you do the whole 'no mans land' outside?"
Cordelia smiled a little wistfully and took out something from her neck. It was a little broken and glued back together, but otherwise in good shape. Xander smiled and took it in his hand. "The locket."
Amy grinned and sat back in her seat. "After the ...spell, I kept the locket, I don't know why, and gave it back to Cordelia. I more or less told her that she was a bit of a selfish bitch and that even though you were a stupid, retarded..."
"Moron, dufus, dumb ass,"
"...Thank you Cordelia, idiot of a man, you still had a good heart." Amy turned to see Xander chuckle a little and Cordelia had a small smile. "Anyway, she took it back and glued it together."
Xander looked back at Cordelia, who had a slight scarlet blush starting to come over her. "It was right after you passed out. I was angry at the time, and when you were lying in that hospital bed, I just..." her eyes started to tear up a bit, but was able to hold them back.
Xander felt a small hand on his other shoulder and looked to Amy. "She wore it everyday. When...things started to happen, she was able to beat off some vampires, run fast and have some military knowledge. I began to remember some of the remnants of our little 'spell incident.' People were being possessed with the hyena spirit. I used the locket as the focusing point for the spell, so I guessed it held some of the spirit as well, and Cordelia told me all about the fun you had at Halloween."
Xander began to understand. "You energized it."
Amy nodded. "More or less."
Xander raised an eyebrow. "Is that why the 'spell' went all crazy on us?"
The blond witch shook her head. "No, nothing like that should've happened. Even the spell from that Chaos Mage from Halloween shouldn't have had that effect. As far as I understand, the magics involving pure chaos don't work like that."
Cordelia wiped away some tears from her eyes. "Giles said that Ethan never would've used something with that type of chaos because he wasn't strong enough and it was, and I'm quoting him here, 'too bloody insanely chaotic.'"
A small silence filled the room. Cordelia felt herself start to break apart again. "I miss him."
Xander gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey now Cor, things are going to get better." He stood up and tried to make her laugh. "I mean come on, the Xand- man's here. This is cause for a celebration."
Cordy groaned. "If the 'Xand-man' keeps referring to himself in the third person, I'll celebrate my foot up his ass."
Amy laughed and got up. "You're right. This is cause for a celebration. I say we break out the champagne."
Xander raised an eyebrow. "Champagne?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It's not champagne as much as Giles' old rum and some of my parents' scotch."
////////////////////////////////////
Several hours later, Xander laid down on the couch and pulled some of the covers over himself. He looked around the little cottage that the girls had found. It was meager and little, but sturdy and, from what he had seen, _very_ well fortified. They had done well for themselves. He felt a cold chill across the back of his neck and heard a noise from behind him. He quickly spun around pointing one of the Glocks that Cordelia had handed him.
Behind the darkness a feminine figure in a loose T-shirt and baggy jeans walked out to greet him. "Its okay Xander, its just me."
Xander sighed and lowered the pistol. "God Cordy, you almost gave me an aneurysm. Don't do that to me."
She smiled a little and motioned to the couch. "Can I sit?"
Xander gave her a grin, scooted over and pat the cushion next to him. "Sure."
She sat next to him and lit another candle on the table infront of them. The curtains were all closed with 'hurricane shutters.' So they didn't have to worry about someone seeing the light from outside. When he asked why there were hurricane shutters in California, they smacked him upside the head.
He smiled as she sat down next to him. The candlelight creating shadows dancing along her face. "So...what's up? Is something wrong?"
Cordelia shook her head and cracked a little smile. "No, I just...I missed you Xander. I wanted to say that I'm sorry about everything."
Xander grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry Cor, I knew you weren't in a good place. Its okay."
Cordelia grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down into a ferocious kiss. She worked her hands slowly around to the front of his shirt and started to undo some of his buttons. Xander tore himself away for a second. "Cordy, I don't think..."
"I know you don't. Now is not the time to start." She felt herself tear up and backed away for a second. "Xander, I just...after everything happened and I thought you were dead, I knew how much you mean to me. There's no one else now. It's just us. Please. We need this."
She looked into his eyes and softly kissed him. "I need this."
Xander leaned up and kissed her lips softly, which she responded in kind. He pulled back and stared into her dark eyes for a second. "I don't know Cordy. Is this just because of everything that's happened or what? I mean I do, and did really care for you, but I'm not sure."
She smiled sweetly and leaned over to leave a sweet chaste kiss on his lips. "Xander, its not pity. I feel sorry for what happened, but that's not why I'm doing this." She straddled herself over him and put her hands on his chest. "When you were with me, I felt like more of a person. It really made me feel like I wasn't the rich bitch or anything. I was just being me. I haven't been me for so long." She bent down and gave him a soft, passionate kiss before pulling back and looking into his eyes. "I want to be me with you."
She moaned as he started to kiss down her neck. She stopped him for a second and pulled his head into another heated kiss. She reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on her necklaces and put them on the table. She grinned at him. "Don't want those getting in the way."
He pulled her back onto the couch. She laughed and pulled him back up off the couch. "I have my own room you know."
Xander grinned playfully. "I didn't know."
She smiled seductively back at him as she led him up the stairs. "Well now you do."
/////////////////////////
Amy yawned and walked down the stairs. She pulled back the shutters to reveal the first rays of sunlight. She walked over to the couch to find it empty. "What the hell?"
She walked over to the table to see a very familiar locket. She raised an eyebrow and looked up the stairs to where Cordelia's bedroom door remained closed. She went to pick up the necklace and saw something else alongside it. It was another necklace, an old one. She shrugged and picked it up. It looked...familiar. She picked the lockets up and headed for the living room to research some more.
Pairings: a little angst for right now, something more substantial later.
A/N: This is the sequel to Enter Sandman, Sad But True, and Eye of the Beholder. Actions have consequences. Justice is served.
A/N 2: God knows you can't write more unless you get reviews.
Disclaimers: I don't own anything relating to Buffy, Angel, or Metallica.
Timeframe: S2 AU. Maybe I stole a little from S3 "The Wish."
Dedicated to the ones you can't save, and to the ones you can.
////////////////////////////////////
Xander felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He spun around to see a ragged-looking ex-cheerleader charge into the library. "Cordelia!"
Cordelia had seen better times. Her hair had been cropped short. She wore dirty blue jeans with a dirty tan top and brown leather jacket. In her left hand she had one of Xander's Glocks that he had 'obtained' earlier that month. In the other hand was a small wooden cross. She blinked and shook her head in disbelief. "Xander?"
"What the hell is going on? One second I'm walk...OMPH." He was cut off by an enthusiastic fierce kiss and tackled to the floor.
"Oh my God Xander, I thought you were dead. I saw you talking with Willow, the next Anya found you passed out in the middle of the hall. Then Mrs. Calendar died, Willow died, Oz died, Giles died. Everyone's dead."
Xander felt himself being crushed by Cordelia's surprisingly strong grip. Cordelia held on for dear life. He had already been taken away from her, as everyone else had been.
"Cordy," Xander pried her off long enough to look her in the eyes. Tears ran down her face and her bottom lip trembled. "Tell me what happened."
////////////////////////////////////////
Xander sat in silence. Everyone was dead. Cordy had said it herself. He didn't want to believe her, or Giles' journal, but the proof was there, all around him. She was able to hotwire a dodge and was driving them to the outskirts of town. He saw just massive destruction. Some buildings were left standing, but they seemed empty. Cordelia had said that after Buffy was killed, Giles took it upon himself to gather as many people as he could to the high school and try to reason with them. To make them realize what was happening in the town. Unfortunately, Angelus heard of it and sent a horde of demons after them. Only Cordelia and three others were able to escape. Angelus left the bodies there as a warning. The times that they had tried to go and bury the dead, Angelus and his minions were able to kill two of the survivors, Jonathan and Larry.
Cordelia finished her story just as they pulled up to a small two-story house in the middle of a clearing. Cordelia got out of the car, followed shortly by Xander. He stopped and looked around the landscape. The lawn around the house was completely barren except for some markings and lumps in the ground. He turned to Cordelia. "Is that what I think it is?"
The brunette smiled. "Yeah, after Alca...after we moved here, we thought it would be a good idea to...protect ourselves."
Xander shook his head, allowing himself a small smile as they walked up to the front door. "I would consider the amount of land mines you have surrounding this place _very_ good protection. And who exactly is 'ourselves?'"
A voice interrupted him. "Oh come on Xander, just because I wasn't part of the infamous 'Scooby Gang,' doesn't mean that I couldn't take care of myself."
Xander turned to see a slightly familiar blond head walk towards him. "Hey Amy. How are you doing?"
Amy Madison gave a small grin before responding. "Real shitty. You?"
Xander looked back at Cordelia before walking into the house. "Yeah pretty much the same...except I had a nice long nap."
////////////////////////////////////
Xander sat at a small round dinner table. The soft glow of candlelight illuminated the room. Cordelia said that the electric cable didn't run this way, nor did anything else for that matter. It was one of the reasons they were able to keep themselves safe. Also, they had dry, warm clothes, which he was happy to change into. He looked at his eggs. They weren't bad, a little runny and salty, but otherwise...edible. He took another bite and looked up at his current saviors. Amy was looking at him with a small smile, like he was a pleasant surprise, another person to talk to. Cordelia gave him little, wistful stares when she thought that he wasn't looking. Something was different about her. He pushed his plate a little forward. "So..."
Amy took another bite of her eggs and put her fork on the table. "So..."
Cordelia smiled and put her hand over his. "Its good to have you back."
Xander smiled and took another bite. "Its good to be back."
Amy shook her head and looked a little crestfallen. "Its not that good."
Cordelia put a hand on her shoulder. "We're alive aren't we? We're not dead, or turned. I consider that _very_ good."
Xander spoke up. "How did you survive?"
The two looked at him with guilty faces. "I don't mean it like that, but how were you able to escape, or how did you do the whole 'no mans land' outside?"
Cordelia smiled a little wistfully and took out something from her neck. It was a little broken and glued back together, but otherwise in good shape. Xander smiled and took it in his hand. "The locket."
Amy grinned and sat back in her seat. "After the ...spell, I kept the locket, I don't know why, and gave it back to Cordelia. I more or less told her that she was a bit of a selfish bitch and that even though you were a stupid, retarded..."
"Moron, dufus, dumb ass,"
"...Thank you Cordelia, idiot of a man, you still had a good heart." Amy turned to see Xander chuckle a little and Cordelia had a small smile. "Anyway, she took it back and glued it together."
Xander looked back at Cordelia, who had a slight scarlet blush starting to come over her. "It was right after you passed out. I was angry at the time, and when you were lying in that hospital bed, I just..." her eyes started to tear up a bit, but was able to hold them back.
Xander felt a small hand on his other shoulder and looked to Amy. "She wore it everyday. When...things started to happen, she was able to beat off some vampires, run fast and have some military knowledge. I began to remember some of the remnants of our little 'spell incident.' People were being possessed with the hyena spirit. I used the locket as the focusing point for the spell, so I guessed it held some of the spirit as well, and Cordelia told me all about the fun you had at Halloween."
Xander began to understand. "You energized it."
Amy nodded. "More or less."
Xander raised an eyebrow. "Is that why the 'spell' went all crazy on us?"
The blond witch shook her head. "No, nothing like that should've happened. Even the spell from that Chaos Mage from Halloween shouldn't have had that effect. As far as I understand, the magics involving pure chaos don't work like that."
Cordelia wiped away some tears from her eyes. "Giles said that Ethan never would've used something with that type of chaos because he wasn't strong enough and it was, and I'm quoting him here, 'too bloody insanely chaotic.'"
A small silence filled the room. Cordelia felt herself start to break apart again. "I miss him."
Xander gave her a reassuring smile. "Hey now Cor, things are going to get better." He stood up and tried to make her laugh. "I mean come on, the Xand- man's here. This is cause for a celebration."
Cordy groaned. "If the 'Xand-man' keeps referring to himself in the third person, I'll celebrate my foot up his ass."
Amy laughed and got up. "You're right. This is cause for a celebration. I say we break out the champagne."
Xander raised an eyebrow. "Champagne?"
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It's not champagne as much as Giles' old rum and some of my parents' scotch."
////////////////////////////////////
Several hours later, Xander laid down on the couch and pulled some of the covers over himself. He looked around the little cottage that the girls had found. It was meager and little, but sturdy and, from what he had seen, _very_ well fortified. They had done well for themselves. He felt a cold chill across the back of his neck and heard a noise from behind him. He quickly spun around pointing one of the Glocks that Cordelia had handed him.
Behind the darkness a feminine figure in a loose T-shirt and baggy jeans walked out to greet him. "Its okay Xander, its just me."
Xander sighed and lowered the pistol. "God Cordy, you almost gave me an aneurysm. Don't do that to me."
She smiled a little and motioned to the couch. "Can I sit?"
Xander gave her a grin, scooted over and pat the cushion next to him. "Sure."
She sat next to him and lit another candle on the table infront of them. The curtains were all closed with 'hurricane shutters.' So they didn't have to worry about someone seeing the light from outside. When he asked why there were hurricane shutters in California, they smacked him upside the head.
He smiled as she sat down next to him. The candlelight creating shadows dancing along her face. "So...what's up? Is something wrong?"
Cordelia shook her head and cracked a little smile. "No, I just...I missed you Xander. I wanted to say that I'm sorry about everything."
Xander grinned and shook his head. "Don't worry Cor, I knew you weren't in a good place. Its okay."
Cordelia grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down into a ferocious kiss. She worked her hands slowly around to the front of his shirt and started to undo some of his buttons. Xander tore himself away for a second. "Cordy, I don't think..."
"I know you don't. Now is not the time to start." She felt herself tear up and backed away for a second. "Xander, I just...after everything happened and I thought you were dead, I knew how much you mean to me. There's no one else now. It's just us. Please. We need this."
She looked into his eyes and softly kissed him. "I need this."
Xander leaned up and kissed her lips softly, which she responded in kind. He pulled back and stared into her dark eyes for a second. "I don't know Cordy. Is this just because of everything that's happened or what? I mean I do, and did really care for you, but I'm not sure."
She smiled sweetly and leaned over to leave a sweet chaste kiss on his lips. "Xander, its not pity. I feel sorry for what happened, but that's not why I'm doing this." She straddled herself over him and put her hands on his chest. "When you were with me, I felt like more of a person. It really made me feel like I wasn't the rich bitch or anything. I was just being me. I haven't been me for so long." She bent down and gave him a soft, passionate kiss before pulling back and looking into his eyes. "I want to be me with you."
She moaned as he started to kiss down her neck. She stopped him for a second and pulled his head into another heated kiss. She reached behind her neck and undid the clasp on her necklaces and put them on the table. She grinned at him. "Don't want those getting in the way."
He pulled her back onto the couch. She laughed and pulled him back up off the couch. "I have my own room you know."
Xander grinned playfully. "I didn't know."
She smiled seductively back at him as she led him up the stairs. "Well now you do."
/////////////////////////
Amy yawned and walked down the stairs. She pulled back the shutters to reveal the first rays of sunlight. She walked over to the couch to find it empty. "What the hell?"
She walked over to the table to see a very familiar locket. She raised an eyebrow and looked up the stairs to where Cordelia's bedroom door remained closed. She went to pick up the necklace and saw something else alongside it. It was another necklace, an old one. She shrugged and picked it up. It looked...familiar. She picked the lockets up and headed for the living room to research some more.