The Wheel
Disclaimers: I don't own them. You did know that, right? Oh, and I borrowed the concept of the ghostroads from The Gatekeeper Trilogy of Buffy books by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder…but then I sort of adapted them to fit my story… The tarot images and definitions are from the "Ancestral Path Tarot" by Julie Cuccia-Watts, with text by Tracey Hoover. All are used without permission. I think I own everything else, but I could be wrong.
Spoilers: IWRY somewhat. Aside from that, general season 4/season 1.
Content: *Major* character death, angst, and B/A fluff. NutMeg called it "sad fluff." Isn't that an odd combination?
Notes: Another dream inspired fic. Feel free to run and hide now. Special thanks to NutMeg for beta reading this for me! You really helped my confidence with this story.
A note on the format of this story: Since this is a rather long fic, or will be eventually, and the parts are very short, it is divided into sections. Think like a novel that is divided into books and then into chapters. So, "The Wheel" is one story. Don't let the "book" titles confuse you.
Part One
VII The Chariot: Combining spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical energies to ride victoriously through life. Self-confidence acquired from family and community support. Fearlessly forging ahead, carving one's own path. Conversely, can indicate defeat where victory could have been attained. Sudden catastrophe. Insufficient planning or lack of trust collapses projects and goals. Defeatist attitude, lack of self-worth, confidence or self-esteem. Impetuous action leading to defeat.
The office of Angel investigations was entirely too quiet. Usually, even if Angel were asleep, there would have been something going on. Cordelia would have been sitting at her desk, possibly filing or something, but most likely filing her nails and waiting for the phone to ring. This empty office? It just wasn't what Kate was expecting when she opened the door just after sundown.
The reception area was completely dark. There was obviously someone here as evidenced by the jacket flung over the back of one of the chairs, but that was it. A large pile of unopened mail was sitting on the desk. The answering machine showed new messages with a red blinking light. Kate wondered how long it had been since the machine had been checked, as she had left two messages in the last week herself.
"Hello?" Kate called into the silent office. She half expected Angel to step out of the shadows. He didn't.
She peeked into the smaller office looking for him. It was even darker in here, the shades drawn tight like usual. Not like usual was the thin layer of dust that lay over everything. She stepped from the office and called out again. This time she got an answer.
"What do you want?" Cordelia asked testily, standing at the top of the stairs.
Kate didn't let her surprise show. Cordelia looked tired, her scowl half-hearted and mostly weary. Her usually impeccable clothing was wrinkled and she wore very little make up. Mostly, though, she just seemed annoyed to see Kate there. "I was hoping to talk to Angel," she explained.
"Well, you can't," Cordelia replied bluntly. "Maybe in several days…or longer." As she turned to go back downstairs, Kate heard her mutter to herself, "If the world doesn't come to an end first."
"Cordelia, wait!" But the girl had already started back down the stairs. So Kate did the only thing she could - she followed. "Cordelia, it's important!"
Cordelia spun around at the bottom of the stairs, stopping the police detective in her tracks. "I said go away!" she nearly yelled. "Unless it's the apocalypse, I can't help you!"
"I don't need your help," Kate said calmly, trying to placate the angry young woman. "I just want to talk to Angel."
"Talk to Angel, huh?" Cordelia replied quietly, the fight in her disappearing and leaving her looking merely exhausted. "Fine, talk to him. He won't hear you, but you can talk yourself blue for all I care."
Kate took in the statements without comment though she wanted to demand what was going on. She knew that if she pushed too far she'd loose her very thin welcome. So she followed Cordelia in silence.
She stopped just in the doorway of Angel's bedroom. This suddenly felt highly awkward. Yes, she'd been here before, but there had been no one here then. Now she was with both of Angel's coworkers. Cordelia entered the room ahead of her and spoke quietly to Wesley, sitting with a large book next to the bed. Then there was Angel, laying still on the bed, the presence of so many people in his room not even making him stir.
Kate could not stop the gasp from escaping his throat. "How long has he been like this?"
Cordelia looked up from her quiet conference to glance at the comatose vampire. "A bit over a week," she said in a voice eerily devoid of emotion. "So you can go now, Kate, because he's *not* going to hear you."
Kate swallowed hard. She'd run Angel though the stomach with a plank of wood before and he'd managed to walk away. What in the world had happened to get him like this? She asked as much.
"Grief," replied Wesley distractedly.
Kate stared at him blankly.
When it was clear she wasn't going to go anywhere, Cordelia sighed and led Kate from the room. "Listen," she said gently, "the full story is none of your business, but the short story is that - as far as we know - Angel felt someone he cares about die suddenly and he's been like this ever since. So I hope whatever you needed wasn't important, because none of us are in any condition to help you right now."
Kate nodded. "It's all right," she said. "Just help him."
Cordelia sighed. "I'm trying," she muttered.
There was an odd look on her face, and Kate knew that whatever Cordelia had been trying, it wasn't working. She hesitated to give advice where it wasn't welcome, but… "Have you tried taking him away from this place?"
"What?" Cordelia asked in confusion.
Kate shrugged. "Whatever this is that's keeping him…unconscious, it's probably psychological. I mean, nothing physical would effect him like this, right?" Cordelia nodded. "Then maybe a change of scenery will snap him out of it. Is there anyplace you could take Angel that might…mean more to him than here?"
Cordelia smiled then, and Kate knew she'd had the right idea.
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