Hopefully, this piece will make it clear the first part of the vision's significance. I should warn there may be larger breaks than that last one between chapters, seeing as how I have college, a job, and a very pathetic but nonetheless present social life. It shouldn't be longer than a week though.
She would always forget what he was. Whether or not that was a good thing was unseen to her. She felt bad whenever she would thoughtlessly insult demons and found a look of self-pity and shame on his face. to be fair, if he was ever in a fight or it ever needed to be done, he would never change. It was an easy fact to forget because of him. He didn't flaunt it. He was a human in her mind. As Cordelia restlessly awaited Doyle's return with a fellow half-demon her pacing brought on the attention of one of his brethren.
She heard him speaking and her own voice responding, but her mind was on Doyle. Despite all her attempts to keep him at a distance, she was worried about how long this whole thing was taking. An entire army of half-demon haters was not something anyone would want to face. This entire case is what kept reminding her of what he was. The demon speaking to her even made some reference to his closer understanding of their plight because of what he was. Everytime she heard it, she accepted it a little bit more. Within herself, she hoped Doyle eventually would too. She smiled to the man she was speaking to and promptly returned to watching the docks, waiting for him to return safely.
She whipped out her phone for the third time that hour to look and see if maybe he had called, but nothing. She looked up frustrated and angry. All emotions, happiness, anger, fristration, excitement ebbed away from her as she saw him running towards the boat. Towards her. Instead confusion set. Was she happy he was fine? Was she upset it took so long? Did she think she truly think he may have been dead? Why did this guy confuse her so much? As if to calm her down from inner turmoil he smiled a familiar, lazy smile she adored.
"You're alive," she said, deadpan. The void of emotion still staking over.
"And you're unhappy?" he questioned in a mock upset tone. She didn't respond. She remained slightly catatonic.
"Doesn't matter, princess. We gotta get this bloody boat moving," he took her by the hand and moved towards the captain. She snapped out of her inner thoughts long enough to hear the two argue.
"I can't go without my second mate," the captain argued.
"You don't go now, we won't have a shot in hell at gettin' these people safe."
"People-" he scoffed, "Freaks."
Doyle opened his mouth to counter, but Cordelia got their first.
"Listen creep, we need you to move, you owe Angel. Do it now, or answer to me." The captain looked uncertain, she certainly didn't look threatening, but the company she kept- demons and vampires, were certainly daunting. Especially when Doyle instinctively took a step back from her. Grumbling under his breath the man bgan to move, closing off the ship as the sound of motorcycles fast approached.
"We need to move, their on their way with something big," Angel told the two quickly, after skidding to a stop in front of them and dismounting the bike.
"We got the captain moving now,"
"That may not be enough time, we have to hold these guys off'" Angel responded to Doyle's remark.
"Man, they're not exactly a cakewalk," Doyle tried.
Before Angel could respond the reinforcements arrived. Angel was driven off to the opposite side of the device, He soon warded off several members of the Scourge before turning his attention to the obvious leader. As they exchanged blows Doyle, with Cordelia right behind him, tried to help quicken the departure of the vessel.
As they worked Cordelia saw what Angel has mentioned earlier. From above the ship, a device much akin to a christmas light decoration was placed hanging into the ship. She grabbe Doyle shouulder to get his attention. They exchanged glances and she knew from his look that this was something dangerous. Below, the sound of Angel breaking the neck of the demon broke their silence.
"He's gonna try to stop it," Doyle reasoned.
"He can't without touching the thngy, though. Won't it kill him?" Cordelia asked, worried.
She watched as Doyle, straight faced, walked over to Angel, who was still making his way up the ladder. He crouched down to meet him at the foot of the landing, Angel stopped.
"It's only just started to arm, I can stop it." He told Doyle. Doyle promptly shook his head.
"You're not done yet no with this fight," Before Angel could get his holdings Doyle pushed him off the ladder, his alreadly unsteady hold easy to dislodge.
Cordelia helplessly watched, unable to move from the spot on the landing. Feebly, she said his name, hoping that calling attention to herself would make him stop whatever it was he had planned. Again, the confusion she felt earlier stopped her. He looked to her, his face determined. He began to stride over to her. Moving closer and closer to her, he faltered just inches from his destination.
Cordelia watched, every emotion she had once been void of just minutes earlier rushing into her as he moved closer to her. A look of regret and sadness filled his eyes as he took her by the arms and embraced her. He moved his lips towards her ear and whispered.
"If I was a braver man, you'd know. I'd've done what I wanted to here." He moved himself away from her and morphed into his demon counterpart. It was the first time since the night that they had met he did this in her presence.
"I guess I'll just have to be a half-man," He said, and was met with a sort chuckle mingled in with the sob Cordelia was in the middle of.
He took to a sprint and jumped.
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The Oracles watched the scene intently. Both interpreting differently.
"This was for nothing. He's still jumping!" The male said irate.
" He is still willing to die for the greater cause. This is good,"
"We wasted time on this silly demon, this is not good. He wasn't supposed to die here."
"Has he died yet?" The girl quickly countered. The boy did not respond at first, instead, he looked confused. It amused her to keep him hanging.
"Look at the time," she said simply.
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If this had been exactly three minutes and forty seconds later, the story would be different. Cordelia thought of this- not that precise time, exactly- but of what could have happened that night. If they had more time, would things have been changed. If Reiff never ran in the first place, could they have shoved off a bit earlier. If she had caught on earlier that Doyle was looking to be the hero. The possibilities were endless. Instead, she sat in a dank room barely the size of her old apartment awaiting the proclamation of a very creepy half-demon with yellow skin occcasinally interupted with maroon spots. The tears that ebbed from her had finally subsided. She sat with crossed arms ad Angel stood beside the window, staring out in a way that was not void of deep thought, but was obivously thoughts Cordy would not be privy to.
As she cursed the Powers That Be and all sorts of other higher powers she had no idea that the plan had actually gone off exactly as needed. She didn't know this was the better alternative. Instead, she sat monitoering the argument between her need to cry and her lack of tears. Finally, the demon entered the room and Angel immediately stepped to him, ready to hear the news on Doyle.
"I've done what I can for the young man. He appears to be in a comatose state however. The damage was pretty severe, but he should make it. Whether or not he'll wake up is entirely dependent on how powerful a witch or healer you use. Unfortunately, I am not strong enough." The demonic doctor announced.
Angel quickly thanked him, and began making arrangements to keep his room there for some time. Cordelia let out her baited breathe and looked to Doyle, who lay covered in wounds, asleep. She had no idea how close three minutes and forty seconds were.
Let me know what you guys thought, and what you think should happen. I'd like to stress the whole what you think should happen part because I have a general outline, but I could be missing or neglecting characters. For example, my pairings. I am a big Doyle/Cordelia and Fred/Wes fan, but I have no ties to either the B/A or B/S camps or any other pairings you might want, so if you want it (I'll even change out my preferences if you want), R & R!