The Varos Triad Part 10
Disclaimers:-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters belong to Joss
Whedon, Warner Brothers and anyone else who own them - and that does
not include me. I am making no profit from this - I'm just borrowing
them to write a story and entertain.
Author: Steff
Pairing: Faith/Cordelia
Rating: PG-13 I think - but if anyone thinks it should be higher
let me know.
Feedback: yes please:-
rebelgirl_uk@yahoo.co.uk
Archive: Disco Inferno, Passion and Perfection, CordySlash and
Miss
K's site are all welcome. Anyone else, please ask.
Summary:- Faith returns to Sunnydale in pursuit of a demon, but is
not well received by Buffy and the Scoobs. However, it appears they
have to join forces with Faith and the LA gang when they discover the
history of the artefacts. Faith is attacked by a shape shifter and
Cordelia has a vision telling her that Varos is coming...
______________________________________________________
There was a moment of silence as the others absorbed her shaky
words. Then Willow frowned and shook her head slightly. "How can
that be? We're destroying the artefacts, not raising Varos."
Giles seemed equally baffled. "There must be more to the vision.
Describe exactly what you saw," he told the brunette Seer.
Cordelia stared ahead, eyes unfocused as she relived the vision in
her mind, not hearing the Watcher's instruction.
"Hey C," Faith gently shook the girl. "You Okay?"
Cordelia pulled her gaze back to the room and looked at the last
voice she heard. She flinched when she saw Faith and pulled away
slightly.
"What's up Cordy?" Faith was surprised by the ex-cheerleader's
reaction to her. She had seemed almost scared of her.
"Nothing, nothing." Cordelia mumbled a denial even as she averted
her eyes away from the renegade slayer. "I just need to rest a bit I
think."
Faith nodded, trying not to make too much of the taller girl's
reaction. She got up off the floor and extended a hand to help
Cordelia up.
Cordelia looked at the outstretched hand and followed the limb up to
the face of the Bostonian. She stared at the girl for a moment
before hesitantly taking Faith's offer of help and rising
unsteadily. As soon as she was upright, she extricated herself from
Faith's grip and shifted slightly away from the brunette slayer.
Faith frowned and took a step back herself, realising that the girl
was uncomfortable about her presence but not understanding
why. "Cordelia, what did you see?" She asked slowly.
"I told you what I saw," the older girl snapped back. She sighed and
then swallowed in an effort to steady her voice. "I saw all of us in
one of the cemeteries. I didn't recognise which one it was." She
hesitated and blinked as she tried to find the words to describe her
vision. "There was a flash of light or an energy beam. Something
like that." The girl shook her head in frustration at the inadequacy
of her description. "I saw the demon. He's huge and he's ugly."
The Seer swallowed and then looked at the others without managing to
look at Faith. "That's all I saw," she insisted. Cordelia swayed
slightly as the pain from the vision washed over her again. As the
rogue slayer reached out to steady her, she pulled away slightly and
instead rested a hand on Angel, who was the next closest to her.
Faith dropped her outstretched arm slowly, unable to stop a look of
hurt pass across her features. She noticed the puzzled look from
Angel and willed herself to say nothing until Cordelia was ready to
say more. There was obviously something the woman was unprepared to
share with them, and it quite clearly involved Faith in some way.
Judging by Cordelia's reaction so far, the Southie was convinced that
her part was not good.
The tall prom-queen leant on Angel as he led her towards the couch.
Without instruction she sat down and then swung her legs up on the
couch, cradling her head in her arms as she closed her eyes. Faith
stood and watched her mutely before staring at Angel helplessly. He
shrugged his shoulders, equally confused by the Seer's reaction and
exchanged glances with Wes.
"Does this mean that she gets out of having to learn that spell
now?" Anya chimed in, oblivious to the atmosphere in the Magic Box.
Wesley stared at the ex-demon incredulously. "You really have no
idea what she goes through, do you?"
"Don't bother, Wesley. She had two hundred years of demon activity
to mould her character. It's taking time to get Anya to see the more
tactful side of life." Giles explained quickly, not wanting to set
off a potentially futile exercise in explaining Anya's actions. The
younger watcher frowned but accepted Giles' interjection with a nod.
"Cordelia will learn the incantation as well Anya," assured Angel
softly. "She just needs some time to rest up."
"Has she ever reacted that way before?" Buffy asked, confused by
Cordelia's treatment of Faith.
Angel shook his head. "No, usually she grabs a pad and paper and
writes every detail down in the hope that there's a clue in the
vision to help us."
"So why not this time? And why was she suddenly so frightened of
Faith?" Wesley mused, the crease across his brow deepening. Faith
looked at him uncertainly, uncomfortable that he had voiced what she
too had picked up on.
"She probably saw her betray us all and join forces with Varos,"
Willow supplied nastily.
Faith clenched her fists convulsively but did not look at the witch.
She returned her gaze towards the woman now lying on the couch with
her eyes shut. She had noticed Cordelia react minutely to Willow's
statement. "That's what I'm afraid of," she breathed, her lips
barely moving.
Buffy was the only one close enough to pick up the comment and she
studied the dark slayer carefully, unsure of how to handle her.
Faith was hurting deeply. The blonde girl hadn't realised how deep
Faith's feelings toward Cordelia were. Initially she had been
surprised, believing that the rogue slayer was incapable of any
emotion other than hate since coming round from her eight month
coma. Her four year absence had quite clearly had a profound affect
on her. The older slayer swallowed as she recalled her treatment of
Faith since her arrival in Sunnydale. Any offer of help now would
surely be rejected. Buffy had hardly been holding out the olive
branch of peace since the younger slayer had arrived. If she
suddenly started, Faith would become immediately suspicious and Buffy
would get nowhere. But Buffy needed to offer her support somehow.
Cordelia apparently no longer trusted Faith after seeing *something*
within the vision. After a few moments of indecision, Buffy resorted
to a tried and tested method of assistance. "Are you up for some
training?"
Faith switched her glance to the older slayer instantly. Initially,
she had thought that the offer was a ridiculous one. She had just
been released from hospital. When she looked at Buffy's face and saw
genuine concern, Faith realised that Buffy was finally giving her
some leeway and letting her back in. She smiled wanly at the shorter
girl. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea B," she replied
carefully, noting the look of disappointment flash across Buffy's
face. "I think I'd forget that I ought to be resting," she explained.
Buffy rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. "I'm sorry. I just
thought..."
"No, it's okay," Faith interrupted, astonished that she had illicited
an apology from the girl. "Maybe we could just do some set
routines. Nothing strenuous." She listened intently, waiting for
a
murmur of objection from Cordelia and tried to stamp down the anguish
she felt when she realised that there was none forthcoming. Buffy's
voice broke through her reverie and she forced herself to focus on
the words being spoken to her.
"No' you're right. You shouldn't be training. It might do some
more
damage." Buffy kicked herself for not thinking.
Faith looked disappointed for a moment and then turned to look back
at the couch where Cordelia still lay. "I don't know what to do,"
she confessed.
"How about getting out of here for a while?" Buffy suggested. "Give
yourself a bit of space to sort your head out."
The rogue slayer shrugged disconsolately. "Yeah. I suppose it's
best if I get out of everyone's way."
The older girl shook her head, realising that Faith had misunderstood
her. "Come on, let's go for a walk. It'll do you good to stretch
those muscles after all that lying around."
Faith looked at the blonde slayer in surprise. She had thought that
Buffy had wanted her out of the way until she was needed again. It
came as a shock to discover that Buffy was offering to go with her.
She nodded her agreement before looking at Cordelia once more. The
Seer remained still with her eyes closed, a pale look of pain
ghosting across her features and Faith felt her fists clench again in
frustration. There was no way she could do anything to resolve the
situation until she knew what the problem was. And for the moment,
Cordelia was not talking.
Feeling a hand placed gently on her upper arm, she turned and saw
Buffy gesturing towards the exit. With a resigned sigh, the
Bostonian followed the shorter girl out of the Magic Box, hoping that
the time away would help her come up with a solution to the deadlock
she was in.
* * *
Cordelia stirred and groaned as she woke up. She opened her eyes and
gazed round the shop carefully. Her head was still pounding despite
the painkillers she had taken but it was more tolerable now. The
Seer sat up slowly and rubbed her temples in an effort to disperse
the remaining tension that sat across her head but it didn't really
help. She looked up as her peripheral vision caught movement and she
saw Angel approach with a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. He
offered it to her silently and the ex-cheerleader took the vessel
gratefully, allowing it to warm her hands before taking a tentative
sip.
"How are you doing?" Angel asked softly, taking a seat next to his
secretary.
"I'm not sure. The vision pretty much took everything out of me,"
Cordelia confessed. She stared at the contents of her cup, unable
to look directly at Angel.
"Are you going to tell me what it's all about?" The dark vampire
probed gently.
"I'm not sure that I can," the brunette supplied miserably, her hands
tightening convulsively.
"It might help," Angel suggested, pushing a bit more.
Cordelia straightened and sighed before looking round the Magic Box.
The witches, Xander and Anya were seated round the table engrossed in
one of the many open magic books while Giles and Wesley were up at
the counter deep in conversation. Buffy, Faith and Gunn were nowhere
to be seen. Satisfied that she wouldn't be overheard, Cordelia stole
a quick glance at the brooding vampire and saw the concern etched on
his pale features. Coming to a decision, Cordelia took a deep breath
and explained. "What I described was all true. I saw Varos rise
and
huge bolts of energy or something zap round him. You, Buffy and
Faith were fighting him physically and Willow and Tara were with me.
We were all chanting." The tall girl stopped and swallowed,
reluctant to voice the next sentence.
"But you saw some more didn't you?" Angel was careful not to sound
too demanding but he felt certain that Cordelia needed a nudge to
continue.
Cordelia nodded mutely and stared at her coffee. In a broken whisper
she continued. "The next thing I saw was Faith attacking me. She
leapt at me and stabbed me." The Seer's voice broke and she felt a
hot stream of tears run down her face as she relived the image. "Oh
Angel, what am I going to do?" With that she leant into him and
began to sob, the anguish taking over her emotions at last. She was
dimly aware of a strong arm pulling her in tighter as she continued
to cry and Cordelia gripped the vampire's shirt roughly as she clung
onto the only bit of support she thought she had.
Angel held the girl in his arms and his mind raced, even as he
murmured nonsense words of comfort to the stricken woman. He stroked
her hair soothingly as he contemplated what she had revealed.
Cordelia's visions were always accurate but they were always open to
interpretation. If Faith stabbed Cordelia in her vision then that
was going to happen, unless there was a way of preventing it. But it
made no sense. Angel knew how much Cordelia meant to Faith and he
was even more certain of how Cordelia felt about the slayer. There
was no logical reason as to why this would happen and that meant that
it would be harder for him to prepare and prevent the events from
occurring. He simply refused to believe that Faith would return to
her old ways voluntarily. And then suddenly, he leapt to an
assumption. Perhaps it was Varos who influenced Faith in some way
into behaving irrationally. The demon might be able to put a spell
over her or hypnotise her. Faith might have no idea what she was
doing. Encouraged by the thought, he sat Cordelia up and wiped the
moisture away from underneath her eyes.
"What?" She asked. Her breath was coming in heaving gasps still but
she was starting to control it more now that the peak of her emotions
had subsided.
Angel quickly surmised his thoughts to the Seer. Cordelia looked at
him sceptically but nodded that his explanation might certainly be
plausible but then deflected him before he continued. "I have other
things to be thinking about."
"What?"
"The spell. In the vision, it was me who was chanting the third part
of the spell. I need to sit and learn it."
"Are you sure? Anya seems to be doing okay." Angel looked over
to
the table in time to see Willow bang her head on the table in
frustration and the ex-vengeance demon to push back her chair and
storm off towards the back of the shop.
"You were saying?" Cordelia teased. She felt better now that she had
heard a number of reasons that could explain away Faith's actions but
she was not convinced. However, she couldn't shake the fear the
vision had stirred up inside her. Deciding that it would be better
to try and concentrate on something else, Cordelia rose unsteadily
and moved over to the table. "Have you worked out each part of the
spell yet?"
Tara looked up and smiled warmly at the taller girl. "How are you
feeling?" She asked.
"I'm not sure at the moment," replied the brunette honestly. "The
headache's eased off a bit though."
"Glad to hear it. And in answer to your question, yes we have found
the way to divide the incantation," Willow provided. "Unfortunately,
Anya has the memory span of a retarded goldfish."
"Willow," Tara remonstrated. "She's just having trouble remembering
the exact phrasing," the blonde witch expanded.
"Yes, but paraphrasing the sentence could potentially alter the
incantation radically." Willow was unable to keep the scathing tone
from her voice.
"Well I hope you can show a little more patience with me," Cordelia
returned as she sat down in the seat recently vacated by Anya.
"I've been patient for an hour and a half. There are limits," Willow
justified before grinning ruefully at the brunette Seer.
"Have I been asleep that long?" Cordelia was horrified. "What
time
is it?"
"Nearly 5 o'clock," Tara supplied. "Did your vision give you any
clue to what time this is all going to happen?"
The Seer shook her head. "It was dark and it felt late. But it
could be any time after night fall sets in."
"Damn, that doesn't leave us much time at all. You up for some
learning then?" Willow prodded.
"I don't think I've got a choice," replied Cordelia in a
monotone. "Be gentle with me."
Willow grinned. "Would I be anything else?"
Both Cordelia and Tara shook their heads at the red-haired wiccan
before settling into learning the incantation.
* * *
For the first hour of their walk around Sunnydale, Faith remained
silent, allowing her own thoughts to rage through her head,
uncomfortable with the idea of sharing her insecurities with the
older slayer. Buffy walked with her and did nothing to break the
silence, not wanting to push the Bostonian into anything she did not
want to do. The two women walked some areas slowly but went through
the parks at a gentle jog, easing down to a fast walk as Faith began
to feel her muscles pulling around the site of her injuries. The
second time they slowed down, she glanced at the blonde girl. "So
why are you with me B?"
"Thought you could do with some company," returned Buffy honestly,
before adding, "and I didn't want you getting your ass kicked again."
Faith snorted mirthlessly. "Damn that thing was one tough bitch.
I'd love to get my hands on her and return the favour."
"I'm sure you'll get the chance."
"Hope so." Faith hesitated and stopped walking. "What if Willow's
right?" She asked suddenly.
Buffy looked steadily at the younger girl. This was crunch time.
If
she didn't supply the right answer, Faith could well run again. "I
don't know," she answered candidly. "But until Cordelia tells you
exactly what she saw, all your thoughts are just supposition."
"You saw how she reacted to me B," Faith returned. "She sure as hell
didn't see me setting up a picnic did she?"
"Something's spooked her, that's for sure," agreed the shorter
girl. "But until we find out what it is, we can't deal with it.
Maybe she saw something and interpreted it wrong. We just don't
know."
"Yeah, but it's all this not knowing that's driving me crazy." Faith
looked and saw a sudden look of concern flit across the blonde
slayer's complexion. "Figure of speech B," she explained, realising
how her words could be misconstrued.
Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but see how I just took that? Supposing it's
the same for Cordy?"
"We're going round in circles here girlfriend," Faith reminded Buffy
but felt strangely comforted by Buffy's words.
"Just hang in there Faith. You care about Cordelia and she obviously
cares about you. This could all just be a stupid misunderstanding
and I'm sure we'll get it sorted."
Faith nodded. "I hope so B," she confided. "I just don't want
to
lose her without knowing the reason why."
"You won't," the blonde girl reassured. "Ready to go back yet?"
"Nah, I'd like to do a bit more if that's okay."
"Fine by me. The longer we're out here, the less time I have to
stare aimlessly at a book." Buffy smiled.
"Now that makes sense. Come on," Faith urged and they began to jog
through the next park.
* * *
Cordelia proved to be surprisingly adept at learning the words but
was more faltering at saying them in the correct sequence or at the
same tempo as Tara and Willow. However, they continued to practise,
taking random chunks of the incantation at a time in order not to
inadvertently recite the whole spell when they weren't ready to.
Cordelia was able to recite her part parrot fashion within an hour.
The girls sat back and looked at each other in
satisfaction. "Impressive Cordy," Willow complemented.
"Thanks, I wasn't sure I could do it myself," the brunette admitted.
"So it's just a question of finding out when this all happens now
then," Tara supplied.
"I think it's rather down to us," Giles commented from the counter.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked.
"According to this tome, the destruction spell is a continuation of
the summoning spell. I rather suspect that we have to raise Varos
before we can destroy the artefacts."
"Were those witches totally insane?" Wondered Tara.
"Probably," concurred Wesley with a wry smile. "Although it's more
likely that they used a similar spell as they simply didn't have time
to come up with an alternative. Besides, the power from the
summoning is immense. The final part of this incantation is a
channelling of that power so that the artefacts can be destroyed."
"In other words, once we start the incantation, we can't stop
otherwise we summon Varos ourselves." Tara frowned as she
contemplated the gravity of the situation.
"Bummer of a second prize," supplied Xander gloomily. He had given
up on trying to console Anya, who now seemed content on counting out
the profits from the till for a second time that day.
"We just have to be prepared to ensure that you aren't interrupted
once you begin," Angel told the girls confidently.
"So," Willow turned to Cordelia. "Are you going to tell us why you
went all freaky on Faith?"
Cordelia blinked at the sudden change of topic. "It doesn't matter
now," she replied carefully.
"Yes it does," refuted the redhead. "I don't want you losing your
concentration and ruining the incantation," she justified her probing.
Cordelia rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I just saw something that I'm a
little uncomfortable about that's all."
"I knew it. She does betray us," the wiccan crowed triumphantly.
"No she doesn't," Cordelia denied vehemently. "It has nothing to do
with you."
"Well, come on Cordy. What was it?"
Cordelia squirmed uncomfortably but remained reticent.
"Does it have something to do with Faith?" Tara asked gently. The
tall Seer nodded but stayed silent.
"Well don't you think that she at least ought to know what you saw?
If she's in danger she should be told," Tara's compassion animated
her words.
"It wasn't Faith who was in danger." Cordelia was beginning to feel
a little cornered.
"Then who? You've got to tell her Cordelia. It wouldn't be fair
of
you not to," Tara pointed out.
Cordelia looked at the blonde witch sharply. "Fair? How can I
be
fair? How on earth can I tell her that I saw her attack and stab
me?" She blurted.
"You just did."
At the sound of Buffy's voice, Cordelia span in her chair and looked
towards the door in time to see Faith turn and walk back out.
To be continued....