Part 2
Los Angeles, California
2002 AD
Laughing, Angel, Fred, Gunn and Lorne walked back into the Hyperion. Though the trip to Vegas had been much more adventurous than anyone had ever expected, things had worked out in the end. They were safe, they were together, and finally, they were home.
Angel smiled, listening to Fred and Gunn flirt. The streetwise, vampire-fighting tough guy and the brilliant-but-shy science geek from Texas. Definitely an odd couple. Almost like himself and...
No. He wasn't going to think about Cordy, about what might have been. She was a higher being, in a better place now, far away from the troubles of this world. She was safe, above the danger and pain. She was... in the lobby of the hotel?
Angel stopped suddenly, staring. Was he hallucinating, or was the object of his thoughts really right in front of him?
Fred bumped into Angel as he stopped dead in his tracks. Her laughter trailed off as she realized he wasn't moving. What was going on? She peered out around him, her jaw dropping as she realized what he had seen. "Cordelia?"
Cordelia? Gunn looked up, startled. Cordy was back?
Lorne stepped out from behind the group. "Welcome back, princess." He walked forward, arms outstretched, and enveloped Cordy in a hug.
"Lorne!" she cried, returning his hug. "You're finally back." She turned to the others. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for...forever."
"You're back." Angel was still unmoving, unable to believe she was really there in front of him.
"I'm back," she smiled. "Not exactly sure where I'm back from, though... My memory's a little foggy on that point."
"What do you remember?" Fred asked.
"Well, I was driving down the highway, going to meet Angel." She smiled, flushing faintly at the thought of her plans for that night. "The next thing I remember I'm sitting here in the lobby, on this round couch thing and there's no one else around." She grew increasingly concerned as no one spoke. "Why? Have I been gone for days or something?"
The others exchanged looks. She had no idea how long she'd been gone and all that had occurred in her absence.
"Uh, Cordy," Fred began hesitantly. "You've been gone more than days. You were missing for months."
"Months? I was gone for months?" She was shocked, unable to believe what they were telling her. "Where could I have been? I mean, didn't you guys look for me?"
"We looked," Gunn assured her. "But then Lorne went off to Vegas, and Angel disappeared too... We were knee deep into the demon shit and your trail was cold."
"Which made sense, considering where you were..." Fred trailed off, realizing what she'd just said. How did you tell your friend she spent her summer as a higher being?
"Where I was? You just said I was missing and you couldn't find me," Cordy accused suspiciously.
"You were...all summer," Fred stammered. "Until Wesley rescued Angel from the bottom of the ocean, and he stole the Axis of Pythia - Angel, not Wesley stole the axis, from this rude electric girl who killed Charles - and he, that is Angel, used the Axis of Pythia to find you on a higher plane."
Cordy turned to Angel. "Is it just me, or did she not make any sense?"
"I thought she did." Gunn shrugged. "Then again, we're the only ones who've been here all summer."
"Except for Connor," Fred reminded him. "And he's gone now that we discovered he tried to torture Angel by leaving him in a box at the bottom of the ocean."
"Fred got him with the taser." Gunn beamed. "My girl don't take any of that adolescent angst shit."
Fred smiled, basking in the praise. The brat had deserved it, trapping his father in a watery grave, to rot, alive...er, undead, for eternity.
"Okay, now I'm officially confused." Cordy stared at her friends. What the hell had been going on lately?
"Holtz's letter telling me how he approved of my relationship with Connor was a lie." Finally stirred from his stillness, Angel walked over to where Cordy stood. "Instead, he planned his own death, and framed me for it."
"And Connor fell for it," Gunn continued. "Hook like and sinker. Got himself a nice big box and chained dear old dad up inside of it."
"He tossed the box into the Pacific, where I spent the summer starving, hallucinating, and watching the fish float by," Angel finished.
Cordy's eyes widened. Angel spent the summer at the bottom of the ocean. "How did you get out?"
"Wesley," Angel admitted. "Wesley rescued me. Searched the ocean, fed me with his blood, brought me back here."
"Wow." Wesley? Cordelia shook her head. He was back in the fold? She was just getting one revelation after another. "Quite the feat from someone you tried to kill a few weeks - months - ago." Though, come to think of it, Wes wasn't here now. Hadn't that been enough to redeem him in Angel's eyes?
"He's moved on. He has his own crew and isn't interested in us." Angel looked away. He couldn't face her, knowing how poorly he'd treated Wesley. He'd been so angry over Connor's disappearance that he hadn't been able to think straight - and he'd held the watcher responsible. In reality, it was all a part of Sahjahn and Holtz's master plan. Wes had been as much of a victim as the rest of them, only he hadn't had his friends around to help him recover.
Wisely, the rest of the group stayed silent, not commenting on the rift between the two friends.
"Okay. Wesley is still gone. Angel spent the summer sleeping with the fishes. Connor's gone 'cause he sank Angel to deep in the ocean." Leave for a little while, and everything changed. Drastically. Cordy sighed. But wait... there was one thing... "You died?" she turned to Gunn. "When did you die?"
"For a minute." He shrugged, looking at Fred. The thing with electro-chick had freaked his girl out almost more than it had freaked him out - and he'd been the one who died.
"His heart stopped when she electrocuted him. Gwen. The rude woman who shoots electricity from her fingers and steals things for money. But then she restarted his heart." Her eyes narrowed. "Said it was 'like starting a Chevy.'" Fred only wished Angel would have kicked the crap out of the bitch instead of just taking the Axis from her later. Hell, he'd even given her the Axis back, making her God-only-knows how many millions of dollars.
"Easy there, tiger." Gunn pulled Fred back, snuggling her next to his body. He knew that, given the chance, Fred would like to see Gwen's head ripped off. Since their discovery of Connor's betrayal, she'd developed a real bloodthirsty streak - not literally, though, just figuratively... at least, he thought it was only figurative. She'd never actually drawn blood.
"Anything else happen while I was gone?" Cordy asked. She hoped not. She could barely process the changes she'd already heard about, let alone add new ones.
"I was held captive in Vegas and forced to help a supernatural gangster steal people's futures," Lorne offered.
Cordelia groaned. She was starting to get a headache. She rubbed her temples, praying to whatever deity was out there that the pain would... vision! She was having a vision. She gasped. Though nearly pain-free compared to her previous psychic migraines, her "gift" from The Powers That Be still packed quite a punch.
As the images passed through her mind, she grew increasingly confused. What the...? This didn't make any sense. People falling from the sky? How would people even get in the sky? And afterwards, chaos, blood, and death. Rain of fire, eternal night... and death. Death everywhere, unless they could stop... she couldn't see it, couldn't make out exactly what they were supposed to stop. Dammit!
She looked up, seeing the others staring at her. Strangely-dressed people falling from the sky and being attacked by vampires. There was an apocalypse in there somewhere, though she didn't believe it was brought on by the people she saw in her vision.
Why did her first vision since she'd been back have to be so damn weird? They were already looking at her like she'd sprouted two heads. If she told them exactly what she'd seen, they'd think she was even crazier than she already was... better to wait until they were too far gone to come back. Rescue now, worry later. At least the Powers had provided her with a fairly clear idea about where the rescuees were this time.
"Vision. People in trouble." She headed for the weapons closet and grabbed a crossbow. "Let's go."
"Go?" Fred asked. "Where?"
"I'll tell you on the way." With those words, Cordy was out the door, leaving the others to grab their weapons and follow.
"I'll stay here," Lorne offered. He wasn't really good with weapons anyway, and blood clashed with his gold lamé.
The seer stuck her head back in the door. "We've got to motor, people. Places to go, vampires to slay..."
Angel, Fred and Gunn exchanged a look, but nevertheless, grabbed their weapons and headed for the door.
Los Angeles, California
2002 AD
Laughing, Angel, Fred, Gunn and Lorne walked back into the Hyperion. Though the trip to Vegas had been much more adventurous than anyone had ever expected, things had worked out in the end. They were safe, they were together, and finally, they were home.
Angel smiled, listening to Fred and Gunn flirt. The streetwise, vampire-fighting tough guy and the brilliant-but-shy science geek from Texas. Definitely an odd couple. Almost like himself and...
No. He wasn't going to think about Cordy, about what might have been. She was a higher being, in a better place now, far away from the troubles of this world. She was safe, above the danger and pain. She was... in the lobby of the hotel?
Angel stopped suddenly, staring. Was he hallucinating, or was the object of his thoughts really right in front of him?
Fred bumped into Angel as he stopped dead in his tracks. Her laughter trailed off as she realized he wasn't moving. What was going on? She peered out around him, her jaw dropping as she realized what he had seen. "Cordelia?"
Cordelia? Gunn looked up, startled. Cordy was back?
Lorne stepped out from behind the group. "Welcome back, princess." He walked forward, arms outstretched, and enveloped Cordy in a hug.
"Lorne!" she cried, returning his hug. "You're finally back." She turned to the others. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for...forever."
"You're back." Angel was still unmoving, unable to believe she was really there in front of him.
"I'm back," she smiled. "Not exactly sure where I'm back from, though... My memory's a little foggy on that point."
"What do you remember?" Fred asked.
"Well, I was driving down the highway, going to meet Angel." She smiled, flushing faintly at the thought of her plans for that night. "The next thing I remember I'm sitting here in the lobby, on this round couch thing and there's no one else around." She grew increasingly concerned as no one spoke. "Why? Have I been gone for days or something?"
The others exchanged looks. She had no idea how long she'd been gone and all that had occurred in her absence.
"Uh, Cordy," Fred began hesitantly. "You've been gone more than days. You were missing for months."
"Months? I was gone for months?" She was shocked, unable to believe what they were telling her. "Where could I have been? I mean, didn't you guys look for me?"
"We looked," Gunn assured her. "But then Lorne went off to Vegas, and Angel disappeared too... We were knee deep into the demon shit and your trail was cold."
"Which made sense, considering where you were..." Fred trailed off, realizing what she'd just said. How did you tell your friend she spent her summer as a higher being?
"Where I was? You just said I was missing and you couldn't find me," Cordy accused suspiciously.
"You were...all summer," Fred stammered. "Until Wesley rescued Angel from the bottom of the ocean, and he stole the Axis of Pythia - Angel, not Wesley stole the axis, from this rude electric girl who killed Charles - and he, that is Angel, used the Axis of Pythia to find you on a higher plane."
Cordy turned to Angel. "Is it just me, or did she not make any sense?"
"I thought she did." Gunn shrugged. "Then again, we're the only ones who've been here all summer."
"Except for Connor," Fred reminded him. "And he's gone now that we discovered he tried to torture Angel by leaving him in a box at the bottom of the ocean."
"Fred got him with the taser." Gunn beamed. "My girl don't take any of that adolescent angst shit."
Fred smiled, basking in the praise. The brat had deserved it, trapping his father in a watery grave, to rot, alive...er, undead, for eternity.
"Okay, now I'm officially confused." Cordy stared at her friends. What the hell had been going on lately?
"Holtz's letter telling me how he approved of my relationship with Connor was a lie." Finally stirred from his stillness, Angel walked over to where Cordy stood. "Instead, he planned his own death, and framed me for it."
"And Connor fell for it," Gunn continued. "Hook like and sinker. Got himself a nice big box and chained dear old dad up inside of it."
"He tossed the box into the Pacific, where I spent the summer starving, hallucinating, and watching the fish float by," Angel finished.
Cordy's eyes widened. Angel spent the summer at the bottom of the ocean. "How did you get out?"
"Wesley," Angel admitted. "Wesley rescued me. Searched the ocean, fed me with his blood, brought me back here."
"Wow." Wesley? Cordelia shook her head. He was back in the fold? She was just getting one revelation after another. "Quite the feat from someone you tried to kill a few weeks - months - ago." Though, come to think of it, Wes wasn't here now. Hadn't that been enough to redeem him in Angel's eyes?
"He's moved on. He has his own crew and isn't interested in us." Angel looked away. He couldn't face her, knowing how poorly he'd treated Wesley. He'd been so angry over Connor's disappearance that he hadn't been able to think straight - and he'd held the watcher responsible. In reality, it was all a part of Sahjahn and Holtz's master plan. Wes had been as much of a victim as the rest of them, only he hadn't had his friends around to help him recover.
Wisely, the rest of the group stayed silent, not commenting on the rift between the two friends.
"Okay. Wesley is still gone. Angel spent the summer sleeping with the fishes. Connor's gone 'cause he sank Angel to deep in the ocean." Leave for a little while, and everything changed. Drastically. Cordy sighed. But wait... there was one thing... "You died?" she turned to Gunn. "When did you die?"
"For a minute." He shrugged, looking at Fred. The thing with electro-chick had freaked his girl out almost more than it had freaked him out - and he'd been the one who died.
"His heart stopped when she electrocuted him. Gwen. The rude woman who shoots electricity from her fingers and steals things for money. But then she restarted his heart." Her eyes narrowed. "Said it was 'like starting a Chevy.'" Fred only wished Angel would have kicked the crap out of the bitch instead of just taking the Axis from her later. Hell, he'd even given her the Axis back, making her God-only-knows how many millions of dollars.
"Easy there, tiger." Gunn pulled Fred back, snuggling her next to his body. He knew that, given the chance, Fred would like to see Gwen's head ripped off. Since their discovery of Connor's betrayal, she'd developed a real bloodthirsty streak - not literally, though, just figuratively... at least, he thought it was only figurative. She'd never actually drawn blood.
"Anything else happen while I was gone?" Cordy asked. She hoped not. She could barely process the changes she'd already heard about, let alone add new ones.
"I was held captive in Vegas and forced to help a supernatural gangster steal people's futures," Lorne offered.
Cordelia groaned. She was starting to get a headache. She rubbed her temples, praying to whatever deity was out there that the pain would... vision! She was having a vision. She gasped. Though nearly pain-free compared to her previous psychic migraines, her "gift" from The Powers That Be still packed quite a punch.
As the images passed through her mind, she grew increasingly confused. What the...? This didn't make any sense. People falling from the sky? How would people even get in the sky? And afterwards, chaos, blood, and death. Rain of fire, eternal night... and death. Death everywhere, unless they could stop... she couldn't see it, couldn't make out exactly what they were supposed to stop. Dammit!
She looked up, seeing the others staring at her. Strangely-dressed people falling from the sky and being attacked by vampires. There was an apocalypse in there somewhere, though she didn't believe it was brought on by the people she saw in her vision.
Why did her first vision since she'd been back have to be so damn weird? They were already looking at her like she'd sprouted two heads. If she told them exactly what she'd seen, they'd think she was even crazier than she already was... better to wait until they were too far gone to come back. Rescue now, worry later. At least the Powers had provided her with a fairly clear idea about where the rescuees were this time.
"Vision. People in trouble." She headed for the weapons closet and grabbed a crossbow. "Let's go."
"Go?" Fred asked. "Where?"
"I'll tell you on the way." With those words, Cordy was out the door, leaving the others to grab their weapons and follow.
"I'll stay here," Lorne offered. He wasn't really good with weapons anyway, and blood clashed with his gold lamé.
The seer stuck her head back in the door. "We've got to motor, people. Places to go, vampires to slay..."
Angel, Fred and Gunn exchanged a look, but nevertheless, grabbed their weapons and headed for the door.