Author's Note: Read and review. Let me know what you think. We're wrapping up the series, with it's last installment, Cordelia. I think there might be a sequel in the guise of a full-fledged story. And, yes, I was leaning towards C/X on purpose.
A Vision With A Purpose: Cordelia
"Oh, God! Sweet Earth!" Cordelia exclaims as she follows everyone else into the hotel. She throws herself down onto the settee and sighs.
Angel gives her a bit of a smile. "Glad to be back?"
"You do not know. At first, I was all, hey, princess in a demon dimension. This so totally rocks…and then, you know, they tried to kill me, so, that was flushed-"
"Anya. Ahn, This…this…just hold on. I'll get help. Anya!"
It didn't hurt. The change of scenery that was obviously a vision didn't hurt like most visions. It was Xander, shaking Anya, asking her to wake up before he was grabbed by a demon, yanked away.
"Yeah, well, I don't think it actually matters. Do you?"
Next she saw Spike facing off an old man…or he looked like one. She had this distinct feeling that she should be rooting for Spike.
"Have to go. Have to leave. Can't stay."
Buffy. She was panicking. And then she saw Buffy lying amidst the rubble, seemingly dead.
"No!"
Dawn saw screaming as Spike and Doc flew over the edge. Suddenly she was running, leaping into a portal.
"Run…and get help. Help."
Giles was battling a dragon. The sword went through its heart and she saw the claws go through him.
"I need you safe."
"I'm not leaving you."
Willow and this girl. The same girl she'd seen with Giles. They were in love, Willow and the girl. Tara, something told her. The girl's name was Tara.
"Ashes to ashes…to ashes…to ashes…"
She was insane. Cordelia could clearly see that. Mad as hell. she lost it when she lost Willow.
"Fuck you. Censum."
"Anya!"
Now she's seeing Xander run towards Anya as she falls, having been stabbed. She's dying.
Suddenly she's herself, but nobody's noticed that she blanked out. It's just as well. She can feel that this has nothing to do with Angel. Not this time, maybe not every again.
"I have to go." She stands.
"Go?" Angel asks, "Go where?"
"Home. I think…Dennis would be worried. He's overprotective that way." Cordelia says, but she's lying. She's going to her other home, maybe her true one. She's going back to Sunnydale.
She's hurrying down the street, using things from memory and the vision to find her way to the trouble, when a solid form crashes into her and falls back.
"Help." Her voice sounds desperate. "Need…help."
Tara. It's Tara. The girl who Willow died for, the girl Giles died for. Cordelia decides she's an important person. "That's what I'm here for, Tara."
She takes Tara's hands and helps her to her feet, gently leading her towards the hospital. She needed help and Cordelia was determined to get it for her.
It turns out to be more difficult than she thought possible to get Tara help. Without knowing anything more than that her name is Tara, the nurse is being a bitch and a pain in the ass to deal with.
"I don't care! I want her checked out! Get her a…a psychiatrist, a psychologist, something! Help her!"
There's the sound of footsteps and then the doors behind her opening before the unmistakable, "Cordy?"
She turns around to see Xander. She doesn't think much past that, letting go of Tara in favor of running to her ex-boyfriend and wrapping him in a hug.
"Xander! God, it's good to see a familiar face!" It's good to see him, despite everything. Especially when she knew all he had lost. Once she's done being sentimental, she pulls back and really sees him. She notices that he's wincing, probably from the strength of her hug, and there's a gash on his forehead. "Wow, you look like shit. That the hell's going on?"
He looks at her, sadly, as she takes a single step back, realizing that maybe she'd taken it over the line a bit. After everyone… She refocuses on what he's saying.
"Everyone's gone. In the 'dead and not actually coming back' kinda way. Buffy, Will, Giles, Dawn, Ahn…Spike. What's left is what you see here; me and Tara."
"Spike?" She asks, and then she remembers her vision, where she got the distinct feeling that she should've been in the bleached blonde vampire's corner. For some reason, he's been on their side, so she won't say anything. "Um. Wow."
"In a nutshell." Xander replies. He looks around for a moment before turning back to her. "I'm…I'm supposed to go identify them now."
He looks heartbroken, like a little boy. And Cordelia guesses that he mayas well be. His family is gone. Joyce, the only real mother figure any of them had back in high school, she was gone. She should've come with Angel to pay her respects, but she didn't. And now she wishes she had.
Buffy, the almighty slayer is dead. Years of wishing it, but thinking it impossible and it finally comes true. Giles, she's never thought of as mortal. He's the really wise, sometimes funny, older, father figure type of the group. He's supposed to live to two hundred, like he's a vampire or something. Willow's…well, not her favorite person. Especially after the Xander-kissage and the skewering. But Cordelia never wished her dead except once, and she was rightfully angry then. Anya, well, she didn't know Anya that well, but she'd learned that she'd granted a wish for Cordelia, so she guesses Anya would've been nice to had known better. And, well, she's always loved Dawn. Like a little sister Buffy was too dense to realize she was lucky to have. The only thing, besides Angel, that Cordelia had ever truly envied Buffy for.
Cordelia studies him for a moment longer and then grabs his hand. "I'll go with you."
There's a tear in her eye that she's trying to blink away. But he smiles at her. She tries to return it before taking a refreshed and different approach with the nurse. Having seen that today was a day of loss for all of them, the nurse is a bit nicer and immediately calls in Sunnydale's best.
Dr. Schneider soon arrives and begins to gently guide Tara farther into the psychiatric ward. Cordelia retakes Xander's hand, finding weird comfort in doing so, and they both make their way down to the morgue, side by side.
The process is really kind of boring when you think about it.
Dawn Summers. Age 14. Brown hair, blue eyes. Time of death:4:59 A.M.
Anya Jenkins. Age 21. Blonde/brown hair, brown eyes. Time of death: 5:00 A.M.
Willow Rosenberg. Age 20. Red hair, green eyes. Time of death: 4:58 A.M.
Rupert Giles. Age 42. Brown hair, grey eyes. Time of death: 5:14 A.M.
Buffy Summers. Age 20. Blonde hair, green eyes. Time of death: 5:08 A.M.
They come to the conclusion that Tara and Xander are the only two survivors of a multiple homicide, around the same time that Dr. Schneider decides that Tara is suffering from trauma and it should wear off soon.
At least the Doctor's right, Cordelia thinks. She tells Xander as much later when she and him head for his apartment.
She'd reached an epiphany while standing beside Xander in that cold, dark room. She's going to stay in Sunnydale, because Xander and Tara need her. But, she has to go back to L.A. Because Angel needs to know in person. Because she's going to break her lease and move out of her apartment. She and Xander are going to protect the Hell mouth; maybe they can get Faith out of prison or something. And she knows she's going to do all of this, only because the Powers that Be have finally given her a vision with a purpose.
