Redemption

Title: Redemption 1?

Author: Wereleopard
Rating: PG

Pairing: C/A
Email: Romance

Summary: It is 200 years in the future and Angel is a hero to the masses but he is alone and tired

Spoilers: All of Buffy and Angel a

Disclaimer: The characters in the Angel verse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made I am just poor and the song doesn't belong to me either.
Distribution: FSB

Feedback: Yes please!

Chapter 1

Angel sighed and tried to vanish into the darkness and drink his coffee in peace. He smiled to himself at the thought of what Cordy would say. His chest hurt everytime he thought of her, which was everyday, people said that time would heal all wounds but it didn't, not this one. The pain was just as fresh as it was when it first happened; it felt the same now as it did the day she died. Angel felt as if it were yesterday and not 200 years ago. It was just like his love for her it never diminished, it was a candle that still burned brightly and always would. She was his heart, his soul and he wasn't complete because Cordy was not at his side.

He missed them all so much Fred, Gunn, Wes, Lorne and Connor. He was glad that Connor had met someone and had kids so he still had a family but it wasn't the same. Grandpa Angel they all called him even though he had lost track of how many greats there were between him and them it made things easier. He did love them very much; they were the one bright light he had left in his life.

Angel was surprised how his life had turned out, here he was a vampire with a soul, a hero and everyone knew what he was and they accepted him, he had become a beacon of hope for those in trouble. It was very odd having people walk up to him and ask for a picture, a handshake, an autograph. He had become a celebrity.

That was the real reason he was hiding away in the dark, he just wanted 5 minutes alone before someone saw him and the craziness started all over again. Cordy would have loved the attention and he didn't need to do an advert and become the dark avenger and he was so glad that he didn't have to wear tights to garner some attention. Some days it was just too much and all he wanted to do was hide away, but if him smiling and talking to someone made them happier, made them want to help people he was happy to do it.

"Hello, are you Angel?" A feminine voice asked softly but Angel could her the nervousness in her voice.

Angel groaned mentally he had been to busy in his own thoughts that he never heard her approach.

"Yes I am." He said smiling at the attractive young woman she was a petite build with flowing red hair and cat green eyes.

"Oh I thought it was you." The nerves suddenly vanished but now her tone was different. He could hear the awe filter through. "I'm your number one fan." She said grinning.

His number one fan, that was not the first time he had heard that and it wasn't going to be the last it seemed everyone he met was his number one fan.

"The story of you and Buffy is so romantic, so tragic. How you loved each other so much that you couldn't be together." Her eyes went all dreamy as she fell into a girlish daydream of being loved like that by someone.

Angel kept the smile on his face but this was the one thing he hated and he wished that they would get it right. Buffy and her husband had found it funny, but it annoyed him because it cut out Cordy, the memory of her, and of what they had felt for each other no matter how many times he explained this no one actually listened they wanted to hear the tragic romance, the Romeo and Juliet syndrome.

"Well that story isn't actually accurate." He told the young woman politely.

The woman smiled brightly. "Well what was the truth?" She sat down and stared at him intently, the story was that he had loved someone so much that he had never fallen in love again and people always had put Buffy into that part. Maybe if she were real lucky he might fall in love with her it wasn't fair that a hero should be alone, he needed to have someone at his side and it didn't bother that he was a vampire, in fact she found that quite attractive.

Angel sat there quietly for a moment gathering his thoughts, he wanted her to understand about him and Buffy and him and Cordelia. He didn't want to do Buffy a disservice about what they had but he wasn't going to diminish what he and Cordy had, he wouldn't do that.

"Buffy" Angel smiled at the thought of the petite blonde slayer. "We did love each other and we were each others first love that is all true and we split up original because we just couldn't be together. It took us a long time to let each other go. That is all true from the stories that you've heard. I was not the only vampire that she had feelings for the other one was Spike but it never worked out between them either. Buffy always had trouble accepting that she was the slayer and that is why she couldn't truly give herself completely over to someone who was a vampire but she did find her soul mate it was someone who had been by her side through it all." Angel had been so happy when he received the wedding invite to her and Xander's wedding; it had been at night and no crosses in site. It had been a beautiful wedding and Buffy had never looked more beautiful or happy.

"So it was because she was the slayer?" The woman asked a little disappointed because their story had been so romantic but she did want to hear the rest of the story to find out who had been his true love and why hadn't it worked out.

"Not really as I said Buffy couldn't truly accept being a slayer all she wanted was a normal life. Spike and Faith got together. Things work out the way they are supposed to no matter what pain in causes." Angel remembered how happy the two of them were and how devastated Spike was when Faith died, he stayed at her side as she aged and his love for her never faded, they had been together for a long time, they were lucky.

"What about you?" The woman asked she wanted to know about the vampire in front of her, she wanted to hear his story.

"Me, well for me it was Cordelia Chase, my best friend, my seer, my heart." His voice drifted of as he thought of the beautiful brunette he could still see her so clearly, he could smell her shampoo and her voice still echoed through his ears.

The woman frowned trying to remember who Cordelia Chase was; she glossed over the parts that didn't have anything to do with Buffy and Angel now she was wishing that she hadn't. "So you loved her very much."

"She was my soul mate and we didn't have very long together at being in love. When we first met she was someone I helped, then she became my friend, family, then it was my best friend and without realising it I fell head over heels in love with her. When she died it killed something inside of me." Tears filled his eyes as he remembered her saying goodbye to him, kissing him and then finding out she had never been there, she died without ever waking up.

"I'm sorry." The woman whispered as she watched his heart break all over again.

"I have to go." Angel stood and left the woman sat alone at the table.

She watched him walk away and wondered why people thought, why she had thought that the Buffy/Angel love was more romantic than the truth, it wasn't. All she wanted to do was find someone who had loved her that much.

Angel walked into his apartment and laid on his bed, he reached over and grabbed the photograph of him and Cordy, he just stared at it memorising again every inch of her, not that he ever forgot she was always with him. The tears finally managed to escape the confines of his eyes and roll down his cheek. He was over 400 years old and the only person who would have understood was gone now too. Spike. He had died saving a little girl from a group of vampires at least he had Faith were together, that was what he liked to believe.

Tonight he felt his age and then some, sometimes he just wanted it to be over, he just wanted this eternity of loneliness, this forever to end.

A flash of light lit the room and blinded him for a moment and standing in front of him were the Oracles.

"It is time." The male Oracle said.

"Time for what?" Angel asked suspiciously this wasn't the first time they had done this.

TBC