Not mine, Joss's. Not mine, Joss's. Not mine, Joss's.
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Part Five
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She avoided getting undressed for bed as long as possible, but was finally forced into it. The phone line was clear, there was no question about that, but as of 11:30 or so there hadn't been any phone calls and her excuses weren't working any more. So as she got into the bed, in her nightclothes, she struggled to stay awake. By claiming a fear of the dark -- no great stretch in Sunnydale -- she managed to keep her lights on, and pointed towards the head of her bed so the nrightness was right in her face.
Was her singing the key to solving this problem? Well, then, if she had to, and the librarian said so, she'd sing.
But what to sing? Something light and fluffy? No; even she realized how silly it would be to try to bring down an evil demon thing by singing "Love Can Move Mountains," or anything similar. Besides, she hadn't really been in a light and fluffy mood for a while, anyway, not since Willow and Xander so cruelly betrayed her and the flock of sheep started making fun of her in public.
Right, then. Something to show her anger, her rage. Alanis Morrissette? God knew there was a woman in touch with her inner bitch. Natalie Imbruglia? A definite maybe, though Torn was a bit too, too, begging, and she begged no one.
It was funny, you know? All the men she'd dated,and he -- Xander -- was the only one she'd fallen in love with. Which only made the betrayal a million times worse, of course. He hadn't come within, within a hundred MILLION miles of her soul . . . hadn't known who she was or that she loved him until it was WAY too late.
Hold on -- that was it! So, to herself, she rehearsed, proudly, how she'd stand at the edge of the cliff and save everyone . . .
right up until the moment she fell asleep.
* * *
Angel and Xander eyed each other warily.
"What are you doing h-" Xander began; simultaneously, Angel said with a puzzled voice, "How are you still awake --" then they both stopped.
Angel spoke first after the brief silence. "You're here, you're awake, I'd say you know more about what's going on than I do. Care to fill me in?"
Xander, a bit surprised by Angel's deferential attitude, staggered over to a chair, sat down into it heavily, and began explaining everything, from Cordy's dream to the events of ten minutes ago. As an afterthought, he brought up Buffy's four vampire escorts. Angel asked him a few pointed questions and then explained what he'd seen. People with broken arms, busted noses, not waking up?
"Where were they all going?" Xander asked.
"Somewhere off behind the main building. I didn't see exactly where . . . I was a little preoccupied."
"With . . ." then Xander put two and two together and got a four he still wasn't all that fond of. "You weren't coming in here to get information," he said. "You were coming here to check up on Buffy. Weren't you?"
The vampire tensed. "Yes . . ."
Xander didn't have the energy to explode. "If I felt better right now, I might make some commentary on how I thought the two of you were trying to stay out of each other's lives as much as possible . . . but I really don't have the energy for an argument. And besides, this isn't the time, either."
Angel looked down at him, sadly. "I'm never going to stop loving her, you realize. Even if we do move on -- to other people -- that's never going to change. I'm sorry if that depresses you."
"Something you said . . . in the past, when you weren't really yourself. You said that it must just kill me that you got there first. And you were right, but not in the way you think. It never killed me that you slept with her first . . but that she loved you first." Xander shrugged. "You hurt me more with that line than with anything else you'd ever done, you know?"
A longer silence was broken when Angel said, "So, you thought you'd found something?"
Xander reached across the table for the book . . . and after an effort, brought it nearer. "Look at this . . . I think this is the dude we're up against. Look at what he tried to do in Christchurch not fifty years ago. This sounds EXACTLY like Cordy's dream." In New Zealand in 1951, Hypnos had been attempting to construct some kind of raised mystical pattern . . . no one survived who'd gotten a clear look at it, but from the reports if completed it would have kept everyone who WAS under his control at that time . . . permanently under his control, using some kind of soundwaves.
This had only been stopped when the Slayer at the time . . . who had died herself . . . stopped the symbol from being built by setting the entire area on fire. This killed not only her, but several dozen of the affected people. Since then, Hypnos had disappeared. Until now, obviously.
Angel said, "This feels right. Especially if what you told me about Cordelia's dream is accurate. Sound, construction, everyone under his spell . . ."
Reluctantly picking up the phone, Xander dialed Cordelia's number -- God knew it was burned into his brain by now -- but there was no answer at the other end. He looked up at Angel and shook his head.
"Well, then, if we have to stop it, we will." Xander nodded in agreement. "The first thing we should do is find out where all these people are going, and maybe then we can try to locate Cordelia." Xander stood up, a bit unsteady on his feet. Angel looked at him curiously. "Are you going to be up for this, Xander? You look like hell."
"Oh, I, do? Well . . . earlier tonight I looked like shit, so that's a definite improvement." Then, seriously, "Of course I'm up for it. Have you ever known me to not be there in a crisis?" Angel just glared at him. "Okay, maybe I caused some of those crises, but still --"
"Right, then. Try to look asleep." As they opened the library's front doors, Angel stopped and turned to look at him. "One more thing: Buffy said how you tried to help me on Christmas. So . . . thank you."
"I wasn't really doing it for you," Xander said.
"I know," the vampire answered. "Thank you anyway."
They both walked out to the main entrance to the school building and tried to blend into the sleepwalking crowd. Xander got nervous when they passed by a pair of female vampires, in black, but they made it by them with no real problems.
Then they rounded the corner of the school building and finally saw where everyone was going one, two, three at a time, they were all marching into the high school's football stadium.
Stopping, Xander was almost run over by the person behind him. Angel sighed and half-carried him over to the parking lot, where they concealed themselves behind a dumpster. Angel perched there while Xander practically collapsed onto the pavement . . . and then got the dry heaves. After thirty seconds, stomach muscles aching, he stopped. Looking up at Angel, he half-grinned. "Just when you thought you've got one of these things beat . . . "
Angel whispered, "Well, it makes sense to some extent . . . large, open space, invisible, really, to anyone standing outside . . ."
"It's Cordy's cliff!" Xander said. "In the dream, she was standing at the edge of a cliff and looking down. So maybe she was standing in the top row of the stadium?"
"Maybe," Angel said, sounding distracted. "Tell me something: Giles said Cordelia was having the dreams because she was the key to stopping Hypnos, right?" Xander said yes. "Then look over there and tell me we're not in trouble." Following the direction of the vampire's pointing finger, Xander saw Cordelia, asleep, marching towards the stadium.
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