Disclaimer: I don't own AtS or its characters - they belong to Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, Mutant Enemy and the WB. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment purposes. Not for profit, no infringements intended.

Spoilers: References to events in seasons 3, 4 and 5.

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. It's been written for a while, but I've been struggling with later parts of the story and didn't want to post anything new until I had them ironed out. I think we're back on track for now.
Lots of exposition here and I didn't want to add to it by having Kathy actually tell the story of what originally happened on the show on the page. Y'all have watched the show and know what happens in seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5, right? If not, what are you doing here? Go watch the series on DVD and then come back. It'll all make much more sense then.

PS: I'm kind of surprised I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter to complain about the glaring continuity error that was present - it was actually deliberate, but I'm surprised no one's picked up on it yet. All will be revealed in upcoming chapters...

Chapter Eleven

"I hope you're sitting comfortably, because this is a long story," Kathy said, glancing from one to the other of her two-man audience. "Then I'll begin…"

Kathy held nothing back, telling them every detail of what the Powers had shown her. Everything that had occurred before, but had then been written over, as though it had never happened. She spared them no detail, keeping her promise to Angel, knowing that he'd rather know the truth and suffer it, than remain in the dark any longer.

When she got to the part in the story when Cordelia died, after having been in a mystical coma for months, she saw Angel stiffen as though in physical pain. She leaned forward and took his hand.

"It was her choice, Angel. She knew everything by then, having been a higher power. She cut a deal with the Powers. To turn back the clock, prevent it all from happening. Get you back onto your true path. But it required a sacrifice. Her life and proof that you were still their champion. She sent you after the Circle of the Black Thorn, which basically amounted to a suicide mission.

"And you stepped up, showed them you still had the mission. So they turned back time. Wrote over everything that had happened and send me in to guide you. But I'm not your true guide. I get that now. She is."

Angel was startled. "Are you saying that Cordy knows all of this already?"

"Oh god no. She hasn't been told anything by the Powers. She only knows what she does because of the visions the Kalderash are feeding her."

"Well that's just great," Angel said, becoming angry. "You gotta love how even our enemies are prepared to share more information with us than the Powers that we're supposed to be working for!"

"The Powers don't tell us everything, it's true," Kathy said. "But I'm starting to realise that it's usually for a good reason. If we knew everything in advance, when would we ever know what was our choice and what wasn't? Take you and Cordy for example…"

"What about me and Cordy?" Angel asked, sounding a little flustered.

Kathy smiled. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

A little flustered no longer covered it. "How did… What gives… I…"

"I thought so," she said, grinning at Wesley who was watching the exchange with amusement.

Angel wasn't quite as amused. "What does this have to do with –?"

"Would you have wanted to be told that you were destined to be together before you knew how you felt about her? Or would knowing that just have confused you even more? Taken the decision out of your hands?"

Angel couldn't answer her. He was still stuck on the first part she had said. "We were destined…"

Kathy nodded. "It's all there in black and white in the prophecy of Aberjian."

Angel looked sceptical. "Wesley translated the prophecy for me. He didn't say anything about –"

"I didn't think it prudent to tell you at the time, Angel," Wesley said, looking a little sheepish.

"What?"

"Imagine my surprise," the ex-watcher said. "Cordelia jokingly asks is there is anything in the prophecy about her – a torrid romance, I believe were her exact words. The next day, I'm reading a passage detailing the part the Seer plays in the Shanshu."

"Okay, this is all becoming a little… Why is there an ancient prophecy about my love-life?"

"You and Cordelia have been destined to be together from the very beginning, Angel," Kathy said. "Why do you think that – in a city of how many million? – you just happened to run into her at that party? And then she just happened to be the girl you saved from Russell Winters? You thought that was just a coincidence?"

"Cordelia is your soul mate, Angel," Wesley said. "In the truest sense of the term. According to the prophecy your souls, your destinies, are tied together. To the extent that, if one of you goes down the wrong path, you both do."

"Wolfram and Hart threw everything they could at you before, to keep you apart," Kathy said. "They knew enough about the prophecy to recognise that Cordelia was the key. So every time it looked like the two of you were becoming closer, they threw another spanner in the works. Darla, the Groosalugg, Cordelia's ascension… it was all toward their goal of getting you into Wolfram and Hart. They were so sure that would mean they'd be on the winning side in the apocalypse. They just didn't count on one thing."

"And what's that?"

"Not to get all cheesy, but the power of love," Kathy said, wincing a little at the sentimentality of it all. "They didn't count on Cordelia making a deal with the powers. And they really underestimated you and how far you would be willing to go."

Wesley picked up his notes. "The Vampire with a soul and his Seer, once they fulfil their destiny will become human," he read.

"That doesn't make any sense," Angel said. "Cordy's already human."

Kathy nodded. "Yeah, she is. Right now. But I realised something when I went to see the Powers tonight. If she's going to survive the visions long enough to see your destinies fulfilled, she needs… she needs to become part demon."

"That's insane," Angel said.

"Well, maybe. But we have a bigger problem to tackle first," she said. "Somehow, the Kalderash have found out about your connection to Cordelia and the part she plays in your reward. They're planning on taking her away from you no matter what the cost."

"Well, they're not going to succeed," Angel said. "Wes, keep working on that new prophecy. Kathy, you and I are going to find out all we can about this ritual the Kalderash are planning. We're going to stop it."

Cordelia wiped another tear away as it ran down her cheek. The blue-grey light of dawn was beginning to creep into her room, reminding her that she hadn't slept all night.

Well, there would be time for sleeping later.

She put the last of her belongings into the suitcase and closed it, the zipper sounding loud and intrusive in the otherwise silent apartment. Packing had been a trial, not least because Phantom Dennis had kept taking things out of her cases and hiding them at first. Then she had yelled at him, tears streaming down her face and he had given in.

She couldn't blame him, really. She was abandoning him. Abandoning everyone she cared about. But she had no choice. Enyos had seen to that.

She set the cream envelope containing the note she had spent an hour writing on her pillow and picked up the suitcase. Glancing at her bedside table, she saw the framed photograph she kept there, the one of her with Angel and Wesley. She hesitated picking it up for a moment, considered leaving it behind. But she couldn't. Instead, she carefully tucked it inside her purse.

Taking a final look around the apartment that she loved, she made her way to the front door where her other case was waiting. This is what her life now amounted to. The contents of two suitcases. And her memories.

"Goodbye Dennis," she whispered.

And then she was gone.