Title: All That Was, Is No More
Author: The Zeppo
Posted: 02-14-2003
Rating: PG-13
Email: djclark_21@hotmail.com
Content:
Summary: Angelus has a plan for Cordelia on Valentine's Day.
Spoilers: Just speculation. Ten years in the future.
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution: Sure.
Notes: It’s kinda short, sorry. And I'm sorry if it really sucks.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Secret Valentine Fic For: Starlet2367. Hope you like it.
Request: A Cordelia and Wesley friendship set ten years into the future.“Did you honestly think I was gonna let Angel get away with this, Cordelia?” The voice boomed from the other side of the hotel.
Cordelia stood shocked, she didn’t know what to say. “So you made him pay, it doesn’t matter. You’re still going to die.”
The voice began laughing evilly. “I don’t think so, Miss Chase. It’s all over for him, and it’s time for me to take the town over. Permanently.” He took a few steps forward towards the girl.
“Not other step, man.” Gunn’s voice came from behind the man. He had his axe in his hand, and Fred was holding a crossbow pointed at the man. “Not gonna let you kill her, Angelus.”
“And what are you gonna do to stop me, Chuck? You gonna throw the axe and play hero? Let your little girlfriend fire the crossbow into my heart? You’re too afraid. Look at you. You’ve grown so soft since Angel first met you. She’s got you tied to a leash and you’re ready to do whatever she wants. And I know you’re not going to kill me.”
“And how are you so damn sure?”
Angelus hadn’t turned around, he stood still staring at Cordelia as he heard the sound of bone breaking and muffled screams. He watched as Cordelia’s eyes welled with tears and widened with astonishment.
“He’s damn sure, because he had us watching his back.” A voice answered as Gunn’s lifeless body fell to the ground. Fred’s body soon followed on top of Gunn’s.
“I think you know Xander and the girl that’s with him is named Kennedy. I had them come from Sunnydale after I heard what they did. Nasty little duo, rivals the things I had to sit through with Spike and Dru. At least this one’s not completely insane and talking to dolls.” Angelus answered, still reveling in Cordelia’s reaction.
She couldn’t speak. She just looked at the bodies of her friends, and then up at Xander’s smiling and distorted face. She didn’t know what to do except stare at Angelus. “You…you think you have it all figured out. You think just because you’re the evil genius behind Angel’s brooding smile that you know everything. That no one can figure you out.”
“That’s exactly right, baby.” He took another step towards her, feeling even more confident with Xander and Kennedy watching the door. “Nothing’s going to stop me now.”
“Except for us.” A British voice came from behind the counter. Spike and Anya both appeared holding stakes. Wesley appeared from the office holding a sword. “You forgot that Angel has more than three friends and that the only people left from Sunnydale would be more than angry at what those two pathetic creatures did to their friends.”
“Wesley, just stop the act. No one’s buying you as the rough and tough demon hunter. You’re just a pencil pushing, Watcher in exile. A boy not meeting his father’s approval. Sounds familiar really.” He took a few more steps towards Cordelia. “Now just behave, Wesley, or I’ll have to lock you under the stairs until you can be a good boy.”
Xander cleared his throat and stared at Wesley, Spike and Anya. “Angelus, you’ve been around a long time. I’m very sure you’ve heard the bad guy motto, ‘Those who run away, live to kill another day.’ I’m not looking to get me and my girl permanently dead right now.” Kennedy stayed close to Xander, still eyeing up Cordelia.
“Yeah, Xander. Fine. We’ve done enough damage for today anyways. We should get back.” He took another step towards Cordelia, now face to face with her. “I’ll be seeing you soon, honey.” He leaned forward and kissed her, before pushing her back forcefully. Xander and Kennedy walked out of the hotel lobby and into the darkness, soon followed by Angelus. Wesley quickly ran to Cordelia’s side, helping her back to her feet….
Present day
It keeps playing in my mind. Ten years ago we let him out and we haven’t been able to put the soul back in. It’s been so long already. We’ve tried everything. You’d think bookworm Willow would’ve been able to do it, but because she was too busy grieving for her lost girlfriend Kennedy, it botched the soul spell and it made it so we couldn’t return the spell. That girl always had a knack for ruining my relationships, and I’ll never understand why. I mean, look at the clothes.
Three years later we found out what happened in Sunnydale. A vampire had turned the newly made Slayer, Kennedy into a vampire. She had a bloodlust for making Buffy, her teacher’s life a living Hell. She started by turning Xander. The two cleared the herd, killing all the potential Slayers first, then going for the Scoobies. Willow had disappeared, no one found her body and when Giles went out searching for her alone, Xander had killed him easily. After that, Buffy and Dawn had been going on patrol together along with Spike. They tracked the two vampires to a nearby house and when they went to check it out, they found out the owner was still alive, so Spike could not enter. He was forced to watch from the threshold as Xander killed Dawn, and Kennedy killed Buffy. With Anya’s urging, her and Spike made their way here. That’s everything. It’s all can I think about. Now, with Gunn and Fred dead, Connor out on his own, doing God knows what, Lorne died about five years ago, all my friends were fading away. It’s just Wesley, and me with the occasional annoyance of Spike and Anya. This is my life now. I have to accept it. Though I’d really like to sleep sometime soon.
Cordelia crossed her legs under the desk and continued writing. She paused for a moment to check her watch. “Where the hell are you, Wes?” She said out loud as she went back to her writing. For some reason she thought keeping a journal might make her thoughts come more clear, but so far all it did was frustrate her more.
The door swung open slowly as Wesley dragged himself into the lobby. He looked dead tired, but still gave Cordelia a bright smile. He set the doughnuts down on the counter and walked to the office, sitting down across from her.
“It’s about time.”
“It’s six-thirty in the morning. After last night I thought you’d still be sleeping.”
“I don’t sleep, Wes. Not anymore.”
“Right, the nightmares. Have you ever thought of cough medicine? Maybe taking more than you should just to knock yourself out. Or perhaps drinking whatever it is Spike drinks. That seems to put him out quickly.”
Cordelia stared at Wesley, giving him a small smile.
“What are we doing today? The usual? Try and locate where Angelus is hiding out? And I’ve still no word from any of my sources on the whereabouts of Connor or Willow. They’re still looking though.”
“Good. They’re going to keep looking until we’ve found them or- “ She didn’t say it, though she thought it. Connor was most likely dead.
“Yes, right. I brought doughnuts if you decide today is the day you eat. And if you decide to actually close your eyes for more than five minutes, you can trust me to take the phones.”
“Thanks, Wes, but we both know that’s not gonna happen.”
Wesley got up and walked back out into the lobby. He began scanning the area maps that he’d been marking up with thumbtacks. It was the local sightings of Angelus, and he was attempting to connect the pattern.
A few hours went by as Wesley made phone calls, and did a bit of research. He walked into Cordy’s office to ask a question and noticed she had fallen asleep. “Right. Not going to happen.” He whispered, closing the door quietly.
***
“You are incredibly boring, Angelus. All we’ve done is sit around and wait. You leave your little sketches, which are so lame, and you stalk your girlfriend. Can we maybe start the killing again?” Xander asked, leaning back in the chair as Kennedy sat down on his lap.
“Kennedy, shut up your boy before I decide I want to do the shutting up.” Angelus walked across the room and sat behind a large desk. “How many times have I told you, Harris? This kinda thing takes time and patience.”
Kennedy laughed a bit as she kissed at Xander’s neck, biting a bit. Xander pushed her mouth away to not be distracted from his thoughts. “Time and patience? We’re vampires, we don’t deal with time and patience. It’s kill this, maim that. Simple things without all the thinking.”
“Well, when you’re the one running things, then you can decide what gets done. Until then, take Kennedy and get outta my face.”
Kennedy jumped off Xander’s lap and walked to the desk, leaning forward and staring at Angelus. “He has a point you know. All we’ve done is watch. If I wanted to watch, I’d go to England and apply for one of those Watcher positions…wait, there is no Watcher’s Council. There is no Slayer. We took care of all that a long time ago.”
“You didn’t do anything. It was all the First, you two were just lucky to be around it all while I was stuck here playing cat and mouse with The Beast and Cordelia.”
Kennedy sat down on the desk, crossing her legs slowly, her skirt ridding up a bit. Angelus smiled as he stared at her legs. “We did what you couldn’t. We killed Buffy. And if you decide to waste anymore of our time, we’ll kill Cordelia too.”
Angelus stood up and leaned forward, getting into Kennedy’s face. “You’ll do no such thing. Unless you and Geeks Anonymous over there want to die. Now, unless Xander’s into sharing his girl, get out.”
Xander walked over to the desk, picking Kennedy up off the desk and pushing her towards the door. “We’re not gonna sit around and do nothing forever. Move along your timetable or we’ll move it along for you.” Xander walked to the door, pushing Kennedy through and slamming the door shut.
***
Cordelia shot up from her bed, hearing a noise. She looked around the dark room, searching for any signs of anyone. She saw nothing and let out a long sigh of relief. She rolled over onto her side, but stopped hearing a crunching noise as she rolled. She turned back over and reached under the blanket to find a piece of paper. She squinted, looking at the paper, trying to see what was on it. She stared at it as she reached for the lamp. The lamp turned on and she was staring at a drawing of Connor. She gasped a bit, holding her hand over her mouth and dropping the paper on the bed.
***
A piece of paper fell in front Wesley’s eyes, covering the text he was reading.
“He has Connor. I’m willing to bet he has Willow too. They have Willow to perform spells for them, and they keep Connor only to torture us. Wesley we have to get them both back. No one else is going to die.”
Wesley picked up the paper and looked up at her from his seat. “We’ll all go out tonight. I’ll have Anya and Spike meet us here.”
Cordelia was silent. She was staring off into space, almost in a daze.
“Cordelia? What’s the problem?”
“It’s happening tonight. Something’s gonna happen tonight.”
“How can you be so sure?”
She walked to the other side of the room where a calendar was hanging on the wall. She turned around, holding it towards Wesley. The day’s date was circled with a heart, dripping blood in red ink. “It’s Valentine’s Day.”
“I’ll call Spike and Anya now. Everything will be alright, Cordelia. Like you said, no one else is going to die.”
“Well, I certainly didn’t agree to that, Wesley.” Angelus’ voice came from the stairwell. “You might want to make sure that the entrance to the tunnels gets locked. You’re making it too easy for me to get in during the day.”
“Wesley, get out.” She stared at Angelus. “You want me, you’ve got me. But first tell me where Connor is.”
“Connor, the boy that never could amount to anything. Has a lot in common with you, Wes. He won’t stop asking for you, Cordy. It’s all I’m hearing as Xander and Kennedy torture him. His crying and whining get a little annoying after about five hours.”
“Where is he?”
“You really wanna know? I think I’ll tell you. Then I’ll tell you my plans for you and for Wesley, and after that, Mr. Bond, you can escape and foil my every plan.” He slipped into game face. “What do you take me for? An amateur? This isn’t Xander you’re talking to, this is me. Angelus.”
“Yes, we know. Scourge of Europe. We know, but if you haven’t noticed, that was then and this is now.” Wesley said, picking up his sword from the counter.
“You know what they say, history repeats itself. I seem to be making quite the reputation for myself here on the West Coast. Won’t be long till I’m the scourge of the U.S.” He smiled and turned his attention to Cordelia. “You’re looking nice, today. Did you have plans for Valentine’s? Maybe a nice dinner alone with your ghost?” He started whispering. “Is Wesley still being passive and not asking you out? When are you gonna grow a pair, Wes?” With that he charged towards Wesley, jumping over the counter and kicking Wes in the face before he could react. Wesley stumbled backwards but was stopped when Angelus grabbed his collar and threw him over the counter and into the weapon’s cabinet. “Now that he’s out of the way, we can be alone.”
“I meant what I said. No one’s going to die.”
“You should know by now, I don’t take orders. Not from you, not from anyone.”
“It wasn’t an order, more like a promise.”
“A promise? Big words coming from the woman who has yet to save one friend.”
“No time like the present.”
“That’s right, if you don’t mind, I’ve had more than my share of the banter. I’d just like to move on to the killing now.”
“If you really think you can, come and get it.”
Angelus smiled and started to stalk towards her only to get tackled by Wesley. Wesley punched fast, hitting Angelus’ face twice, before getting back on his feet. “You’re not going to lay another finger on her.”
“And you’re going to stop me?”
“I have so far.” He aimed the blade of his sword down, towards Angelus’ neck and started to drive down until he was thrown backwards.
“Angelus, you neglected to mention to Xander and I that you were coming here.” Kennedy said, standing where Wesley just stood.
“I don’t have to check in with you kids all the time. You can make your own fun, not leave, this is mine.” He got to his feet, glaring at the girl.
“Sure thing. Just thought I’d stop by to see if you needed anything. Xander’s waiting downstairs anyways, we found Spike and Anya and we’re gonna take care of them.”
“Good. Fine. I don’t care. Leave.”
Kennedy blew a kiss to Cordelia and walked back down into the basement, smiling at Wesley as he slowly got back to his feet.
“Where was I?”
“You were rambling on about how you’re going to kill us. It was boring, I was happy for the interruption.” Cordelia replied, reaching for a piece of the shattered weapons cabinet.
Angelus stared at Cordelia, letting out a low growl and rushing towards her. She moved fast, brushing Angelus ahead, his momentum taking him right by her. He stopped and turned around, swinging with his left fist towards her face, she dodged the fist once, but stepped into his right fist as it connected with her stomach. She fell backwards a bit, but caught her footing, and went on the offensive. She raised the stake above her head and started down, but Angelus caught her arm with both his hands. Cordelia grunted a bit, still pushing the stake down.
“Give it up, princess.”
“Not a chance.” She kicked her leg out, hitting Angelus in the crotch. “I’m not stupid.” Angelus fell to his knees, and she acted fast, punching him hard and then kneeing him the face. “It’s over, no more.”
“Not just yet, Cor.” It was Kennedy again. “As much as I’d love to watch you kill him, I have other plans.” She grabbed Cordelia by the neck and lifter her off the ground, throwing her into the approaching Wesley and sending them both to the ground. Angelus groaned on the ground, until Kennedy carefully lifted him off the ground. She helped him to the doorway and leaned him against the frame. “We’ll be back.” She threw a key to Cordelia. “You’ll need this.”
Angelus’ face returned to normal, he pushed Kennedy away and stared at Cordelia. “What the hell are you doing? This is mine. I’m ending it now. Run off to Xander now! If I see you again, I’ll stake you both.” He took a step towards Cordelia on the ground. “She dies now.”
Cordelia stared up at Angelus as he approached her slowly. She blinked slowly, images flashing before her eyes. When she opened her eyes again Angelus was gone. Standing in his place was Xander and he was holding a bloodied and beaten Connor. Xander threw him down, Connor’s hands cuffed behind his back.
“We don’t need him. The key is for the cuffs.” He turned to Kennedy. “Go.” He turned around and looked down at Cordelia. “We’re running things now. You thought he was bad, just wait. We don’t have near the patience that son of bitch does.” Xander turned around walked down the stairs.
Cordelia rose to her feet and quickly unlocked Connor’s cuffs, then helped him to the couch. She ran for the first aid kit, cleaning him off immediately. Wesley got up and walked to Cordelia. She stopped for just a minute, from helping Connor to hug Wesley. Wesley held her tight, until she broke the embrace and went back to work on Connor. He knew she was happy for now. They had part of their family back.
End.