"My god!" Angel gasped. "It's you! You're back." Angel walked down the steps and walked over to Cordelia but she backed away from him. "Don't you remember?" Cordelia continued to stare at him with a confused look. "Angel. Um, you see her too, right? I'm not just—"
"No, man." Gunn said. "It's real."
"Crystal clear." I muttered. Cordelia looked at us with scared eyes.
"It's ok." Angel soothed her. "We're friends. You know us. Fred. Gunn. Evee. You're dazed or something must have—Thank god you're back."
"So we know each other?" Cordelia asked slowly.
"Yeah. Really well."
"Okay. Um, who am I?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"What do you remember?" Angel asked.
"I don't know." Cordelia whispered. "Numbers. Animals. Flossing."
"But not us."
"Or me. I don't remember me."
"You're Cordelia Chase. You work here with us. You've been gone for a while, but you're safe now." Angel took a step towards her and she took a step back. "It's ok. W-we're friends. We're here to help you."
"I've been gone?"
"What's important is that you're back." Cordelia's head snapped up and looked up at the second floor of the hotel.
"Are there other people here?" I looked at the same spot she was looking at and saw nothing.
"Um, not to sound all movie of the week but I think you might have some kind of amnesia." Fred stated. "Like, maybe you fell or banged your head."
"Should we take her to a hospital?" Gunn questioned Angel.
"Hospital?" Cordelia asked, returning her attention back to us. "I don't need a—Not yet. Maybe later."
"I don't thing seeing a doctor will solve her problems." I whispered to Gunn.
"Neither will seeing green." Angel whispered back.
"Green? Where?" Angel's eyes flicked to the back door and I saw Lorne coming up the steps outside. "Oh. Yeah. That might freak her out. "
"You know what might help you remember? Seeing some of your things. You wanna check for her things out in the garden?" Angel shoved me towards the door and I jogged up the steps. I opened the door and turned and ran right into Lorne. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as I blushed.
"Sorry, can't come in this way." I turned Lorne around and pushed him to the side of the house.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Well, long story short, um, Cordelia's back and she has amnesia it seems so we couldn't exactly say hi welcome back you're safe. Oh, by the way there's a green demon behind you. Angel will fill you in on the rest later." I led Lorne around front through the darkness. I opened the front door and saw Cordelia looking around the hotel. "Gunn!" I growled his name through clench teeth. He looked towards me, spotted Lorne behind me and went over to Cordelia, turning her back towards us. I opened the front door more and quickly ushered Lorne in and he disappeared upstairs. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed. "Well, nothing out in the garden." Fred came up the steps, pulling Gunn away from Cordelia.
"We got a demon case." She whispered to us. I threw a quick glance to Angel and he nodded, letting me know that he had it under control.
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We had just gotten back from the case and I headed to my bedroom. I was about to close the door when I heard screams downstairs. Two sets. Lorne and…Cordelia. I threw back my head and groaned. Great. Couldn't she have seen Lorne tomorrow when I had gotten some sleep? I slowly walked down the hallway to the stairs.
"Get off me!" I heard Cordelia cry.
"I'm gettin', I'm gettin'!" Lorne yelled. "Just stop with the clobbering!" I walked down the steps to the lobby and went over to help Lorne up while Angel helped Cordelia.
"Cordelia, stop it, stop it." Angel said. "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok. He's with us."
"Tell me that this is Halloween and he isn't what I think he is." Cordelia said.
"Trick or treat." Lorne mumbled.
"Don't you remember Lorne?" Fred asked, coming up from behind us. "You two were old buddies."
"Yeah. You wanna know why we call him Lorne?" Gunn asked.
"You don't want to know." I said. "The length of the name would only confusion you even more not to mention how to pronounce it. No offense, Krevlornswath." Cordelia stared at me, eyes wide. "Yeah, I know."
"What I want is answers, and I want 'em now, mister." Cordelia ordered. "I want to know what happened to your face back there. I want to know what that thing is." She pointed to Lorne.
"Hey!" Lorne and I said in unison.
"And I want to know why she has one gold eye and one silver eye."
"Okay. Maybe we haven't been a hundred percent honest…because, well, we were afraid the truth would scare you." Angel said.
"Yeah. And the lying and deceit have been so comforting."
"You're right. Our mistake. I think it's time we came clean about everything."
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"That's…everything?" Cordelia asked. Fred, Gunn, Lorne and I sat on Cordelia's bed while Angel and her stood up. Cordelia began to pace back and forth in front of the bed. She exhaled deeply. "It all makes perfect sense now. I was a cheerleader, a princess and a warrior, and I have visions, and super powers, and I'm a target of an evil law firm…because I've spent the last three months living on a higher plane, fighting for the forces of good, who wage a battle against demons and evilies and squishy bug babies, 'cause all of that is real and that's the world I live in! And—and I think I know why I don't remember any of this, 'cause, hey, who'd want to?"
"Um, Seabreeze?" Lorne asked, handing out a drink to her. I slapped him in the arm. This is no time for jokes or drinks.
"I know it's a lot to take in." Angel said.
"Says the vampire with a soul and his wacky gang of sidekicks." Cordelia snapped.
"I am not a sidekick." Gunn said.
"I think there's a way we might be able to sort this out." Angel said. Cordelia looked at him. "Pick a song." Cordelia snickered.
"Yeah, what?" She questioned him.
"So Lorne can read you." Fred explained.
"You sing, he sees you future." Gunn said. Cordelia continued to stare at us like we were crazy.
"You bare your soul when you sing." I said. "You bare your soul, your aurora comes out and with that aurora, Lorne sees your future."
"Hopefully he'll be able to explain what's happened and how we can get your memory back." Angel said.
"I can't just sing." Cordelia said. "I don't even know if I'm musical. Am I?"
"Sure. You remember any songs?" Gunn asked.
"Well, there are so many. How do I pick?"
"It doesn't really matter." Angel said.
"Sing Twinkle Twinkle little star." I said. "Happy birthday. Anything."
"Kind of a ballad man myself but, uh, just pick anything." Cordelia took a deep breath and it took all my strength not to cover my ears when she started singing poorly.
"Because the greatest." Cordelia sang. I wanted to stop her and have Lorne sing so he could resurrect my ears. "Love of all. Is happening to me. I've found the greatest. Love of all inside of me. The greatest love of all."
"Does he look a little green to you?" Fred whispered to me and Gunn, looking over at Lorne. "I mean, more than usual." I looked over at Lorne. He was mumbling to himself, eyes hard and tight as he concentrated on Cordelia.
"Is easy to achieve. Learning to love. Yourself—"
"Uh, great." Lorne said, standing up abruptly. "Enough. Okay! You were—you were great. You were great. Ev—everything's great. We're all just, uh—And I see a very, very, um—" He bolted for the door and left. I hopped off the bed and ran out the door behind.
"Lorne!" I yelled after him as I rounded a corner and followed him to his bedroom. He closed the door and locked it. "Lorne." I knocked on the door. "Lorne, open up." I knocked on the door again.
"Go away." Lorne mumbled from inside the room.
"Lorne, please. Open the door." I knocked again. "Please, Lorne." I knocked again.
"Go away."
"No. Not until you open the door." Angel came around the corner. "He locked himself inside." Angel knocked on the door. "He won't open it."
"Lorne." Angel called. "Talk to me." He tried turning the doorknob.
"If it wasn't lock, do you think I would be standing out here?"
"Why are you yelling at me?"
"I'm not yelling at you."
"Fine, then why are you scolding me like I'm a two year old."
"Cause you sure act like one for someone who's two hundred and forty eight years old."
"Two hundred and forty seven for your information."
"That's nice to know."
"What'd you see, Lorne?"
"Go away." Lorne repeated.
"If it's that bad, I need to know." Lorne opened the door and stood in the doorway.
"It's that bad. Good night." He made a move to shut the door but I managed to slip into the room, kicking Angel in the side to make him go away as I went. Lorne closed the door and looked at me with those red eyes of love. "Go away."
"Not until you tell me what you saw when you read Cordelia." I said.
"I'm not telling until you leave."
"I'm not leaving until you tell."
"Go." I looked around the room. It smelt of alcohol but it was a fruity fragrance. My silver and gold eyes landed on the bed and I walked over and flopped myself down on my left side, interlacing my fingers together and twiddling my thumbs waiting for Lorne to began the story. He sighed.
"I need details, Lorne."
"And I got none. Just a—a splitting migraine, a tummy full of rattlesnakes, and a strong suspicion I'm gonna lose my lunch again…if I don't start drinking myself silly."
"Come on, Lorney Tunes. You gotta give me something." Lorne sighed again at my nickname for him.
"Do the words slouching towards Bethlehem ring a bell? Or how about despair, torment, terror? And I'm not referring to little missy's choice of song either—although that was horrifying in its own right. Woof. What I saw was jumbled. It was pieces, flashes. It was enough to make my skin crawl away and scamper underneath the bed. Evil's comin', Evee, and—and it's planning on staying."
"Is that all?"
"All that I can put into words." I sighed and got up from the bed and walked over to Lorne. I took a deep breath and stood on my toes to plant a kiss on his right cheek.
"Thank you, Lorne." I reached for the doorknob but something stopped me. Please, no, go away.
Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it. I threw a quick glance to a piece of glass on the stand beside the door. My left eye was pure white and my right eye was as pink as bitter cold wind biting at a bare cheek.
Please, not now, Saga. I'm not ready.
You are. Follow your heart. She took control over my body and turned me around. She took a step towards Lorne and grabbed his face in his hands and bruised her lips with hers. I fought against her but I ended up relaxing into the kiss. I felt the warmth of the lips, the electricity of the cells being sparked to life. I felt Saga begin to let go of the power. Follow your heart. Her voice drifted off into the shadows and I broke off the kiss once I felt her leave. I looked down at my feet and panted, my cheeks flushing red.
"I—um, I better go, and, uh, tell Angel, what you, um, what you told me." I turned quickly on my heels and left the room.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEE
"What the hell is this?" I demanded, walking down the steps to the lobby, looking for Angel. Angel, Gunn and Fred were all hovering over a man, er creature, that was dead on the ground. I grimaced at his mouth that was split into four.
"How could you have let her wander off alone?" Angel questioned Fred and Gunn.
"The words grown woman come to mind." Fred said.
"And the gal does have a history of whuppin' ass and can she really turn me into a rat?" Gunn asked Fred. Fred shook her head.
"Wolfram and Hart came back?" Angel mumbled to himself. "What if there were hundreds of those things?"
"What if this is the way it starts?" I muttered. "I mean, the slouching and the Bethlehem, and they've taken her because of what she knows, even if she can't remember she knows it."
"Wait, you got Lorne to talk?"
"Is there something you're not telling us?" Fred asked.
"Oh, there's a somethin' but this isn't it." Lorne said, coming into the lobby, drink in hand. "That was just a client of mine who had a fatal habit of snackin' on humans."
"You let it in here with Cordy?" Angel demanded.
"Hello?" Fred broke up the conversation. "Back to the something. Is that way you ran out while Cordelia was singing?"
"Well, A, I wasn't running, I was fleeing. And, B, yes."
"How horrible is this thing?" Gunn asked.
"Well, I haven't read the Book of Revelations lately, but if I was searching for adjectives, I'd probably start there."
"Well, is that all you saw?" Angel asked.
"That was just the tip of the berg, Angelhart. What I got from Cordy was dense." Angel walked over to the weapon wardrobe and opened it. "A big, fat tummy-clenchin' onion from hell. The more layers you peel, the more you cry. Or vomit, in this case." Angel handed weapons to Gunn and Fred and tossed a sword to me. I got it with one hand and tossed it back to him.
"Uh-uh, gimme my damn bow and arrow, you crazy son of a bitch." I snapped. "You think I'm going to do close range combat. You must be crazy." He tossed my bow and my quiver.
"But I'll tell ya. This is one itch that Daddy's done a-scratchin'."
"Hey, look, we gotta find Cordelia before—We have to find her." Angel said. "She's out there alone with no memory. Probably terrified."
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"She's got to be around somewhere close." I heard Fred said. Her and Fred were at the counter looking at a map.
"Then Angel'll find her." Gunn said. Lorne sat on the chair and I sat on the floor, cross legged, trying to contact the spirits within me. I gripped my knees with my hands as I traveled deeper and deeper into my mind. My eyes were wide open but I couldn't see any light. All I saw was darkness. "Freaky."
"What?"
"Her eyes are like a disco. Changing colors so fast."
"Focus, Charles. What if she's not on her own? What if she's been taken or—"
"She's out there somewhere."
Spirits inside of me. Spirits that guide. That control me. I seek for your guidance now. A girl—
We know the situation, Evee. An old weary voice said. Our minds are connected with your mind.
Then, you can help us find her, right?
Wrong.
What?
We can not help you, Evee. You must help yourself.
There has to be a spirit that can help me find her.
Oh, there is but he agrees with the rest of us. You need to help yourself.
How can I help myself when I don't know what it is I should be helping myself with?
Saga already put you on the path. You need to finish it on your own.
Lorne.
Precisely. You and him were always destined to be together. A no violence soul with a fighting soul. Yin and Yang. One cannot live without the other.
I'm not good enough for him.
Believe in what you're worth. You are valuable.
I need to find Cordelia!
The things you have lost will come back by themselves. The connection between me and the spirit broke and I closed my eyes and reopened them to see the lobby again. I staggered to my feet.
"Well?" Angel asked, impatiently.
"Nothing." I muttered. Angel threw his hands up in defeat.
"Nothing. We're gonna have to widen the search. Call hospitals, police stations. She couldn't have just disappeared." We stared at him. "Ok, once, but not again. Somebody has to know where Cordelia is."
"I do." We turned and saw Wesley standing on top of the landing looking down at us. "A bit careless, misplacing her after all the effort to find her."
"We didn't find her. She just showed up…with no memory, no idea who she is or where she's been."
"Fresh start. Doesn't sound so bad."
"What do you know?"
"Wolfram and Hart are planning to extract her."
"Already tried." Gunn updated him.
"They'll try again. She might have spent some time with the Powers That Be. Wolfram and Hart will consider her valuable. And I'll doubt your boy will be able to stop them." Wesley looked hard at Angel. Your boy? Connor? Cordelia's with Connor?
"My—" Angel seemed to have a hard time getting the word out. "She's with Connor. You have that good on authority?" Thank you, weary old voice inside my head.
"You don't seem too concerned."
"Connor's my son. I'm sure he's taking excellent care of her. But we should go over and help out." We headed to the door with me bringing up the end.
Be careful every moment. A male voice said. I looked in the glass doors. A pair of pink and red eyes stared back at me. My stomach twisted into a tight knot as I got a bad feeling that something would happen is I left.
"On second thoughts, I'm going to stay here." I said. "Protect base, you know."
"Good thinking, Evee." Angel said and the rest of them left.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I sat in a chair and Lorne sat in the chair across from me in the lobby. There was an awkward silence between us.
"So," He said.
"So," I echoed.
"That kiss."
"The kiss."
"That was…it was sudden."
"You can blame Saga."
"Who?"
"A spirit in my head. A love spirit. She kind of caught me off guard and took control. But that, um, those last few seconds she left."
"So it was actually you who deepen the kiss?"
"I did not!"
"You did too." I slouched in my chair and grumbled, knowing that he was right. It was me. That actual me. I sighed.
"You know, Saga doesn't come out unless she has to ignite a spark.
"So, you're saying that because you were already in love with me, Saga came out?" Before I could blurt the rest of my feelings to him, the front burst opened and men in black uniforms came filing in gun in hand. I jumped up and faced the men. My eyes went yellow and orange and I phased. My skin grew orange fur and a yellow mane of fur formed around my tail as well as on top of my head and my tail. My body grew hotter and hotter with heat as the spirit coursed through my veins. Nikita. I ran at the first man but I didn't even get half way when I slammed into the side and knocked aside. I laid on my back as Nikita slowly faded away, losing energy and a hellhound stood over top of her, teeth bare. Nikita looked to the left and I saw men dragging Lorne towards Angel's office. Fear gripped me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Please, no. Lorne! Nikita put her paws on the hellhound's chest and I could feel her burning the hellhound with the heat inside of her but the hellhound took no notice. She gathered up all of her strength and slammed her head into its chest sending it back. Nikita got to her feet and growled furiously at it, flames coming up from her paws. Nikita, Lorne. Please, help Lorne. Nikita looked towards the office and that's when everything went black.
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"Evee! Wake up! Evee!" A voice sounded through the darkness. The voice was sweet and soft. Soft like an angel's…Angel! I fought to open my eyes and looked up into the brown eyes. I sat straight up and remembered what happened.
"Lorne." I breathed. I scrambled to my feet and rushed towards Angel's office with Fred, Gunn and Angel behind me. I opened the door and gasped. Lorne was tied to a chair, gag in his mouth. The left side of his face was beaten and blood dripped from his forehead. "No, no, no." I rushed to his side and quickly removed the gag as he began to come back from oblivion.
"Oh, my god." Fred gasped.
"Lorne?" Angel called out.
"Is he alive?" Lorne moaned as he began to wake up. Gunn and Fred untied him and I rushed to go get a piece of gauze. I came back and gingerly pressed it to his forehead.
"Lorne, I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sorry." I apologized.
"What happened?" Angel asked. "Who did this?" Tears streamed down my face as I gingerly touched his face where bruises were beginning to form. I couldn't answer. I was scared that I would break down.
"W—w—" Lorne tried to sound out the word.
"Wesley?" Gunn asked. "Not again?" I shook my head.
"Wolfram and Hart?" Angel asked. I nodded.
"Ok, but—but why? I thought Cordy was their target."
"They must have known that Lorne read her."
"So are you saying that the slam dance at Connor's place was decoy?"
"And we fell for it like a bunch of rookies. They weren't after Cordy, they were after what Lorne saw when she sang."
"They sucked it out of his head?" Fred asked.
"How much? What'd they get?"
"They had a hellhound." I breathed, my voice shaking as I fought to keep the tears back. "The hellhound came after me to keep me busy while they took Lorne in here to get information. They had a demon by the smell of it."
"I wouldn't talk…" Lorne's voice trailed off. "The thing burrowed inside…and it—it took Cordy out."
"Lorne, how much did they get?" Angel demanded.
"All of it." I knelt down on Lorne's right side and buried my face into his arm. I shouldn't have distracted Nikita. I should have let her deal with the hellhound. She could have taken it out and she could have saved Lorne before this could have happened.
"They tricked us." Fred said.
"Wolfram and Hart or Wesley?" Gunn asked. "He's the one who showed up with the hot tip about Junior. How do we know that he's not playin' us?"
"We don't." Angel said. "But what we do know is that Wolfram and Hart…may now know more about Cordy's doom and gloom thing than we do. And that's a problem." Angel and Gunn helped Lorne from the chair and help him up the steps to his room.
"It's my fault." I breathed.
"It's not your fault, Evee." Fred said.
"I shouldn't have distracted my spirit. I should have just let her taken care of it."
"You were thinking about Lorne. You love him and all you could do was make sure he was safe and that was what you were trying to do. I'm going to go and see if Lorne's hungry. It's not your fault." She left the office.
"It is my fault."
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