Okay guys, be nice. This is my first fic, unbetad and I have no clue what I'm doing. Constructive criticism greatly accepted, flames will be returned three fold.

Disclaimer: BtVS and Angel are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and The WB and UPN respectively. I own nothing and make nothing from it. Please don't sue because I've only got debts, which you're welcome to.

Anything in italics is thought.

Onto the story:-

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Slowly, the bright light around Cordelia faded, or maybe her eyes had faded. She realised with a start that being a higher being meant that her corporeal body was kind of obsolete. She now existed on a higher plane, beyond that of the physical. She felt her senses spread and grow, she could see so far though she had no eyes, she could taste so much though she had no mouth. The sensations overwhelmed her, not just the usual five; she could feel the hearts, souls and minds of every being on earth. She figured she could probably see further than earth, but she wasn't ready to look yet.

'Just let it all settle down' she heard Skip say next to her. 'It hits you pretty hard at first, but once you get used to it it's just more background noise'

Cordelia felt herself being pulled in a thousand different directions. She could feel so much; love, hate, loneliness, friendship, anger, gratitude, and all the emotions in between. It was as if the feelings of the whole planet were being poured into her, and then trying to get out. At length, the feelings started to lessen, and Cordelia felt the boundaries between herself and the worlds' emotions come back into place. 'Whew!! That was a reality changer. How come you didn't warn about .it?!' She exclaimed, annoyed.

'Do you think any description could do that justice?' Skip asked. 'Well, no' she replied, 'but still, you could have said something. Given me a warning maybe. Y'know "The whole worlds about to invade your head, hang on for the ride" would have been better than "Surprise, deal with it." If I wasn't used to people invading my head from those visions, my mind would be a mess on the floor right now!'

'Cordelia, if you hadn't had those visions you wouldn't have been able to ascend to become a higher being' 'Right' said Cordelia. She wasn't sure how she said it, as she didn't have a mouth anymore. None the less, she and Skip were definitely having a conversation. She decided not to worry about it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

'So what next? Do the powers have some dangerous new mission to send me on? Or am I about to get fitted for my wings and offered a harp?'

'Cordelia, you're not dead. You're a higher being now. You still work for the Powers That Be, but it's more of a freelance role. You can see into the hearts, souls and minds of most beings now - '

'Most! Most! Why most, why not all?!'

Skip looked at her, exasperated. 'Cordelia, you want to play 20 questions, or should I finish explaining this to you?'

'Sorry' she said ironically.

Skip paused, letting the tension build. Cordelia rolled her metaphysical eyes and sighed, looking more bored than tense. Kip gave up on the tension building and continued. 'As I said, you can see into the hearts, minds and souls of most beings. You can see their intentions and desires, and aid or destroy them with the help of champions, like Angel, and until very recently, you. You'll be given some guidance early on, but basically you get to pick your own projects, and work them as you see fit'

'Wow. That's a lot of responsibility' Cordelia murmured, daunted by the new powers being handed to her.

'We know' Skip smiled, 'that's why the Powers chose you. They could see into your heart, saw the strength of your will to do good. The demon you were given and the powers that came with it were a test, make no mistake about it. They were a test which you passed with flying colours. You have seen and done and experienced too much to continue as a physical warrior for the light. You will carry on the fight, just on a different level'

'But what about the others!' Cordelia cried. 'Angel, Gunn, even Wes.. And what about Buffy or Willow or Xander?' They've all fought just as long and hard as I have, if not longer. Why weren't any of them chosen?'

'Very few people are even considered by the Powers for this kind of ascension' Skip tried to explain to a dazed Cordelia 'of those considered, even less are tested, and not all of them pass the test. Your friends, well, some of them have to find redemption in this form before they can move to the next. As for the slayer, it is her destiny to fight the physical fight, not this one. Others are on the right path, but not there yet. You have to realise that the visions, fighting to keep them, even giving up your dream life for them and accepting the demon into you put you way ahead on points in the whole suffering for the good of others steaks.' He paused, 'One of them was tested though. She failed. We were hoping you would make helping her, helping all your corporeal friends, your first project.'

Cordelia stared at him not understanding what she had just heard. She knew she was beautiful and smart and sure, she had survived some crappy times, but all the time she had spent at Sunnydale High School, working out how to be the most popular and Queen Bitch over everyone. He figured she was slap bang in the middle of the whole good or evil 'ometer. She told Angel where to go and who to help, but she had only joined in the actual fighting recently. Plus, her parents, those people who were really supposed to know you, hadn't given a crap about how smart she was or how nice she was. They only noticed that she looked good. Didn't that say it all really? But then, this was the Power's That Be. Maybe they knew something she didn't.

Then again, maybe not.

Looking around, Cordelia realised that their essences had somehow molded themselves into shining images of their physical forms. Skip was still spiky, although more silver than grey now, and she could see what looked like her own body except it glowed a pale gold colour. She decided she must look like the astral image she had seen of herself in the mirror of her apartment earlier that evening. Had it really been only a few hours ago? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure how time worked up here.

Suddenly, Cordelia latched onto something Skip had said 'One of them failed?' 'One of the original Scooby Gang failed!?' She didn't think it was possible! 'Which one?'

'You tell me' Skip replayed. Cordelia harrumphed, annoyed. She wouldn't have asked if she already knew would she! Skip tilted his head benevolently 'Stretch out your feeling'

'You're not Obi'Wan you know' Cordelia scowled at him.

Skip looked momentarily nonplussed, and then decided on another angle of attack. 'All the emotions you were feeling before, they've quieted now haven't they?' Cordelia nodded her agreement. 'You have to learn to listen to it without letting it overwhelm you. In time you will learn to separate individual's emotions without even thinking about it. Now, you will probably find it easier to concentrate on your friends, the people you know. Then you should be able to single them out as individuals.' As Cordelia opened her mouth to ask more questions, Skip murmured, 'I suggest you try Sunnydale first. It's the easiest place to find, and it's where you are most needed'

Cordelia looked at him, not understanding what he meant at first. He nodded encouragingly. Slowly she started to concentrate on her new senses, directing them towards the earth. The darkness pouring out of the hellmouth stood out like a beacon to her. It wasn't the only dark place, but whilst all the others were shades of grey, Sunnydale was obsidian. It seemed to be trying to suck the light out of everything.

She glanced back at Skip, concerned. Whilst she was looking into the darkness, the darkness seemed to be looking back. It was not a sensation she enjoyed. Skip nodded again, 'Look further, find those who need you'

'Okay' Cordelia concentrated again. It was easier this time, now she knew where to look. The darkness seemed to know where to look too though. The feeling of malevolence brushing against her essence was chilling. Still, she was Cordelia. Something nasty trying to get in her way had never stopped her before. She brushed past the darkness and continued her search. The feelings radiating around her were becoming easier to distinguish: human, demon, happy, sad. She started to sense different individuals. The stronger the emotions, the easier it was to find a person. She could feel one above all others, the cocktail of emotions being given off screamed at her newly developed senses. She could feel guilt, despair, anger, grief, confusion, rage and sorrow, all pouring forth from one soul.

Before she realised what she was doing, her essence had travelled back across the great divide and was reforming on a cliff top, beside the person she had sensed.



Willow knelt in Xander's arms sobbing uncontrollably for what had happened, and what she had done. Her emotions surpassed anything she had ever felt before. There were no words for the despair she was feeling. How could she have done all the things she had done? She'd attacked Buffy and Giles. She didn't even know if Giles was still alive. She had threatened to turn Dawn back into The Key. Her mind shied away from thinking about what she had done to Warren, she couldn't face that yet, and underscoring it all was the well of grief for Tara, her lost love. They had just got back together and everything was working out. It wasn't fair that she had been taken from her now. Tara had done nothing to deserve it. Far more fitting, to Willows way of thinking, would have been for her to be the one shot through the heart, to die from a bullet meant for someone else. Tara had never fallen into dark magicks, never risked her friends lives because she got out of control. Maybe that was why Tara was the one taken. Losing her was Willows punishment, whilst Tara was allowed into heaven. No matter how much Willow wanted her back, and knowing that she had the power, Willow knew she would never see Tara again. She wouldn't pull Tara out of heaven like she had Buffy, and after the rampage she had just been on she wouldn't be joining her there later.

Holding Willow in his arms, fearing that her bones would shatter from the sobs wracking her body, Xander felt helpless. When he had been fighting the darkness within Willow, telling her how much he loved her and really hoping she wouldn't end the world, he had had, kind of, a plan. Now he knew there was nothing he could do to make her feel better. No way to ease the pain she was feeling now and no way to smooth the difficult path ahead. So he held his best friend tight, and allowed her to sob her heart out to him.

Looking around, Xander noticed that the air seemed to be getting brighter. In front of him a glow had appeared, and it was growing, getting bigger and bigger until it was about the size of a person. Features started to become more defined through the glow, which was no longer quite so bright. He could make out that it was a female figure, a young woman, but the face lacked detail.

His grip on Willow tightened whilst the thing was appearing in front of him. At length she managed to bring her head up and wipe her eyes, to see what was making Xander's heart pound. Together, they stared as the face of the apparition became clear.

'Cordelia?!' They gaped together. For a second Willow's miseries were forgotten as she stared at the image before her.

'Great' the images snapped 'I ascend to a higher state of being, and I still find you two together'



'You know all about the vision thing, right?' Willow nodded. Xander was still looking at Willow, waiting for her to lose it again, so Cordelia decided a little bit of a recap was in order 'I got the visions from Doyle. He was Angel's original link to the PTB. When he died, he kissed me and passed the visions to me.' Willow looked at her questioningly, hearing the residue of pain in Cordelia's voice when she mentioned Doyles' death. 'Whole 'nother story.' She waved it away. 'Anyway, Doyle gave the visions to me, and I became Angel's link to the Powers. Problem was, the visions were never meant to be carried by a human. Doyle was half demon and they were awful for him. As a human, they were killing me. Literally. They were turning my brain to mush, and would have pretty soon blown the back out of my skull. I had a vision that was so powerful it knocked me out, and I went all astralley. The PTB gave me a choice, I could keep the visions, and die, or I could forget all this and live my dream life. Surprise, surprise, I picked my dream life. It was great, I was a star, I had my own sitcom and everything. Thing was, I knew there was something more important I should be doing. I didn't remember what at first.. I went back to Skip, the messenger the Powers had sent to me, and told him I wanted my old life back. Even if the visions killed me, what I was doing was more important than one life, even if that life was mine. Skip told me there was a way round it. I could become half demon. It wouldn't make me evil, the Powers would see to that, but it would cause some changes in me, and I'd be able to still have my visions without getting dead. Of course, it couldn't be that simple, it hurt like a bitch, but after all I've suffered with the visions, I handled it.'

'Wait a minute' something she had said penetrated the fog surrounding Xander's brain 'you're part demon now?'

'No. I was part demon, now I'm a higher being.'

Willow smiled. It was a watery, week version of her normal smile, but it was real. Xander stared. He hadn't been sure he would ever see Willow smile again, and of all people, Cordelia was the one bringing it out.

'Congratulations' Willow murmured. Then she sighed. 'It's all part of the balance. Have you come to punish me?'

'Balance? Punish!? Will, what are talking about? Cordelia doesn't get to punish anyone, unless it's Faith in my fantasies, and I'll shut up now cause she's glowing brighter.'

Cordelia glared at Xander. 'Willow, I'm not here to punish you, I'm here to help.'

'But I deserve to be punished. I need to be punished. The universe has to balance. There has to be balance. Actions have consequences, every time you use magick there are consequences. If you use as much dark magick as I did, there are major consequences. I hurt Giles and Buffy and Warren, oh God Warren..'

Cordelia and Xander stared at each other helplessly as Willow began to sob again. Cordelia stepped forwards and wrapped her arms' around Willow, drawing some of the pain and anguish away, and leaving comfort in its place. She looked back at Xander, 'we need to get away from here, back to the magick shop' she decided.

'Agreed' Said Xander 'but err ... Don't take this the wrong way, okay? You are kind of conspicuous, even by Sunnydale standards.'

Cordelia glanced down at herself, glowing even brighter as she tried to comfort Willow. 'You're right.'

'You can transport all three of you, just like Star Trek.' Skip appeared next to her 'First you've got to get rid of that though.' He pointed to the alter Willow had created.

'Right. Couldn't have gone for something quiet and discrete could you? How the Hell am I meant to get rid of that?' Cordelia glared at Skip

'Cordy, erm, who ya talkin too?' Xander asked, looking around.

'Him! Skip! the big silver spiky guy standing next to me?. You can't see him can you?' She leaned round Willow to look at Skip 'they can't see you. Why can't they see you?!'

'This is Sunnydale. Come on kid, looking like this, the Slayer'd try and kill me or someone would try and get me to kill her. No sirree thank you Bob. I'll just stay invisible to everyone but you if that's okay.'

'Great. So I get to look crazy talking to the invisible man. Thanks a lot Skip.'

'You already glow in the dark, and the light for that matter. People already know that you're weird.'

'You're a great help, really. Now tell me how to get rid of this thing,' she gestured at the alter 'and feel free to leave any time.' She turned to Xander 'Skip's my invisible friend. I glow and I have an invisible friend, okay?!'

'That's fine Cordy, whatever you say, I don't have a problem with.' Xander backed away slowly as he spoke, hands open in front of him. He wasn't sure what Cordelia had become, and decided he'd hold off on pissing her off until he knew exactly how powerful she had become.

'Just imagine it gone.' Skip advised

Cordelia cast a withering glance at him over her shoulder. Still holding Willow in her arms, whose wracking sobs had quietened to silent tears, she concentrated on the alter. As Xander and Skip looked on, it seemed to fade from view, before disappearing completely. Some of the mud and stones that had been displaced when the alter rose skittered into the hole left behind. That whole was the only physical reminder of Willow's recent attempt to end the world.

'Nice job.' Said Skip, before disappearing.

Cordelia smiled, pleased with her work, and the leant back slightly from Willow 'are you ready to go to the Magic Box? I have to go check on Giles'

Willow looked scared, but nodded. 'Let's go'

Cordelia reached out and took Xander's hand, and together the three of them disappeared.

Anya and Giles ducked under the fallen beams from the ceiling of the Magic Box, a legacy of Giles and Buffys' battles with Willow. As they reached the door, Anya's demonic senses jumped to a state of high alert. She glanced back over her shoulder, still supporting Giles, ready to push him through the door should it become necessary.

She could sense a higher being.

Higher beings could be fairly capricious in their temperament, and Anya had to admit, a vengeance demon dragging a beaten up, magickally drained man out of a beaten up shop did not make for a good first impression. 'Here we go.' She muttered, as she watched the light grow and coalesce in front of her. She ran through scenarios in her mind, trying to figure a way for this not to end badly for her or Giles. She could teleport out of there, but that would mean leaving Giles, who needed to get to a hospital fast. Anyway, the HB would probably follow her, so running would only delay the inevitable. Better to face it now and hope she could explain fast enough not to have to face any of the dire fates running through her head.

Cordelia blinked as the world reformed around her. She hadn't been in the Magic Box since Giles had taken it over, but she suspected this wasn't how it normally looked.

She saw Giles and what looked like a blonde, but felt like a demon, standing in the doorway. The strongest emotion coming from the demon was concern, mainly for Giles. She wasn't a threat, although what she was had yet to be decided. Being an ex-half-demon herself, Cordelia wasn't jumping to any conclusions.

She felt Willow let go of her hand and step away from her, heard her gasp and felt the wave of dismay that rolled through her at the wreck the shop had become. This used to be a place Willow had loved to spend time. Now it was destroyed, and even worse, she was the destroyer. 'Don't worry' Cordelia told her. 'This is not a problem. How many times did we rebuild the library after Hell came through the floor? Coupla days, you won't know the difference! In fact..' I wonder if I can. 'Picture it the way it was' She said. All four of them heard her and couldn't help but obey. It wasn't that Cordelia could compel them to do stuff against there will, they were all looking around anyway, and the memories of what the shop used to look like were easy to find. Locking all the different images together in her mind she closed her eyes. She had a feeling she was glowing again.

From Willow and Xander, she sensed mild surprise. They had seen her in action before, and knew she could pull off some pretty spectacular stuff. Giles and the demon, who seemed to know who she was, were in shock. To say they were gob smacked, flabbergasted, amazed and totally awed, all at once, would have been an understatement.

She opened her eyes and looked around. 'Much better.' The shop was back to how it used to be. Even the Black Arts books were back in the restricted section. 'Don't you wish I could have done that when we were in High School?' She asked irreverently. 'You can come in. I'm not going to hurt you.' She added, as the demon girl still felt a little uneasy.

'I need to get Giles to a hospital. He's not as bad as he was, but he's still really, really damaged. Unless you can fix him like you did the shop we have to go now.' How the hell Cordelia had become a higher being, Anya didn't know. When she had been called by her, to exact revenge against Xander, Cordelia had been your average high school Queen Bitch. Obviously a lot had changed.

For the first time since she had arrived in front of Xander and Willow, Cordelia looked nervous. 'Right. Shouldn't be too hard. I healed Conner didn't I? I can do this.' All of this she muttered to herself as she slowly walked towards Giles, rubbing her hands together as she came.

Giles, who had had one arm around Anya and the other propped against the doorframe, straightened painfully. Anya kept her arm around his waist, just in case.

Finally paying attention to the demon, Cordelia felt a jolt of recognition 'Anya? I thought you were human now, and you and Xander are getting married!?'

'Can we fix Giles now and catch up on the gossip later?' Xander called. Cordelia sensed some agitation from him, as well as a whole world of regret, but, she decided he was right. Fix Giles first, everything else could wait. Taking both of his hands in hers, she pictured Giles as he was when he was healthy. This was harder then she had anticipated, as examples of Giles's talent for getting knocked kept leaping to mind. Eventually she opened her eyes, and before her stood Giles, all fixed. He smiled at her

'Thank you Cordelia. It seems a lot has happened to you since you moved to Los Angeles.' As he wrapped his arms round her, Cordelia felt pride and warmth and gratitude pouring out of him. She hugged him back, and held on for what felt like an age. She may not have seen him in three years, but the fatherly affection he felt for her was very real. She wondered for a moment if her own father had ever felt like that about her. If he had, she reflected, she had never known about it. She wondered if it would have made a difference in her life if he had.

She leant back so she could look at him and smiled, although tears were threatening. 'You're way too important for us to let you go yet.' She hugged him again, and then stepped back.

An awkward silence descended on the group. All immediate threats had been dealt with, no one was sure what the next was. Cordelia almost wished she hadn't rebuilt the shop. At least it would have given them something to do. Thankfully, whether human or demon, Anya was still about as tactful as a nuclear missile. 'So what happened? As an HB, couldn't you have stopped Willows' whole psycho murderer trip? What?' she demanded, taking in the pained looks around her. 'It's not as if you weren't all thinking it! As usual, I'm the only one with the guts to say it.'

'It only just happened. Geez, pressure much? Besides, I get the feeling there's some stuff I don't get to interfere with. If I could actually fix things before they went wrong, that would make life way to easy, and people wouldn't get to fight and suffer and all and then there'd be no heroes, and then what would we do?'

'Indeed' said Giles, drawing his glasses out of his pocket and beginning to polish them. 'It does rather beg the question of why are you here, though.' He smiled gently has he placed his glasses on his nose. 'It's not that we don't appreciate what you've done Cordelia. You've saved us a lot of time and money, and in my case pain, but fixing the shop, fixing me, transporting Willow and Xander here, all could have been done with out the use of your powers. No, I think there is a greater purpose behind your being here.'

'Have you already started on that whole cryptic HB thing?' Anya took a step towards Cordelia. 'Do you really know why you're here, and aren't ready to tell us yet? Cause you know, none of this wasn't our fault. It was Willow who went nuts, the rest of us were trying to stop her and should in no way have to make up for what she did. Not that people don't sometimes make mistakes, and shouldn't be forgiven for them. Just, don't blame their friends, even when their friends have made mistakes too..'

'An.' Xander interrupted Anyas' increasingly frantic sounding rant 'Cordelia's not here to punish Will. We already talked about it.' He turned to look at Cordelia 'But why are you here Cordy?'

'I don't know' the other's looked at her, disbelieving. 'Really. I don't. Skip just told me I was needed here, so I thought about here, and then I was here. The only thing I know is I have to do is help Willow. Well, help all of you, but mainly Willow. She's the most in need of help right now. That's it.'

'Skip?' Anya asked

'Yeah. Her invisible friend.' Xander answered wearily. It wasn't that he didn't believe that Skip existed. He'd lived on the Hell mouth all his life. As long as it was a friendly invisible friend, he was happy. He was also tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept. He knew it was before Willow killed Warren, before Warren shot Buffy and Tara, before he and Buffy had made up. He hadn't slept the night before that either. Guilt over how he had treated Buffy and Anya mixed uncomfortably in his head with anger at the both, and hatred of Spike. God, he didn't know when he'd last had a proper rest, but he needed one now.

A fearsome looking grey spiky guy appeared suddenly. He appeared in the same way Cordelia did, only much quicker. Xander took a deep breath and stepped in front of Willow. At least if this thing killed him, he'd get some sleep. From what Buffy said, heaven was a pretty cool place anyway.

'Skip?!'

'Anyanka?!' They both stared at each other 'Oh, you're the ex-demon who hooked up with the Slayer and her crew. I heard about that. Never would've guessed it was you though. Gotta tell ya' Anyanka, you're not looking too ex at the moment.'

'Long story involving men being evil and me being right about vengeance. D'hoffran offered me my powers back, and I accepted, but then Willow went all nuts and I couldn't just leave. So here I am, vengeance demon helping guard the hellmouth. It's different. What about you? You're working for the Powers now?'

'Yup. Have been for.oh.four, maybe five hundred years now. The hours suck but the benefits are cool.'

'Excuse me? Could we have this happy reunion some other time? If it's not too inconvenient, I'd really like to know why I'm here? Y'know, what my mission is?'

'Sorry, it's just been a while since we've seen each other. We used to have some times I can tell you.. But I won't. So you want to know why you're here. Short answer is, we don't know.'

'Wha-'

'The Powers know you are meant to be here now. There're a few other things you have to do, and then you all need to be here when it starts.'

'Do you think you could vague that up a bit for me? Cause you know, I might actually get a clue about what I'm meant to be doing some time in the next millennium if you keep things that clear.'

'Sorry. One of the things you'll find out about being a Higher Being is that you don't find more answers, just more questions. Okay. For now, you need to sort out the Slayer and her sister, who're gonna walk through that door in about five minutes. After everything's as smooth as you can make it here, you're gonna go and get Angel, the rest of that group and a few add ons. You all come back here, and it's talking time. After that, whatever's gonna happen, starts. Can't tell you much more I'm afraid. It's all misted after that.'

'Okay, so we know where we're up to at the moment. We'll deal with Buffy and Dawn when they get here. Giles, you heard of any immanent Big Bads?'

'Not that I can recall, no.'

'Okay you guys start on the research, I'll -'

'Cordelia, we're all exhausted.' Xander held up a hand to stop her from interrupting. 'None of us have slept in days. We won't be any good at researching now, because the minute we sit down we're all gonna fall asleep.'

'That's okay' Skip intervened, 'we've got a few days before anything starts to happen.' He turned to Cordelia 'right now everyone needs to relax and recuperate. Start dealing with things so they're not going to fall apart when the next fight comes. Everyone needs some down time.'

'Okay. I get that. Do I need to sleep anymore? I mean, I know it's not really relevant to the now, but do I still get to eat? Because missing out on chocolate fudge sundaes and cappuccinos would be a real down side to being a Higher Being.'

Skip titled his head, amazed by the switch from save the world seriousness to total irreverence. 'As long as you're solid you can eat and taste, you can sleep and get your haircut and go shopping if you want. It's up to you. You don't need to do any of these things, but that doesn't mean you can't.'

'Cool. Because if you'd told me I had to miss out on all those things, there'd be some serious reconsidering going on here mister.'

The bell over the door jangled, announcing the entrance of Buffy and Dawn. They both froze in the doorway 'What happened?!' Buffy gasped, staring around. When she had left the shop, chasing after Willows' fireball, it had been in ruins, as had Giles. Now it was back to normal, and Giles was showing no ill effects. Reaching back, Buffy grabbed Dawns' hand, but managed to resist the impulse to shove her sister behind her. After the way she had fought when they'd been stuck in the crypt, Buffy doubted she would ever have to protect her sister again. Still, old habits died hard.

Her gazed paused on Willow, who stood nervously beside Xander, staring at the ground and twisting the hem of her shirt between her fingers. Next was Xander, a little bloodied and battered, but not looking too bad considering he'd just saved the world. Giles looked fine, the cuts on his face completely gone. He squared his shoulders, and smiled at her. Walking over to her, he wrapped an arm each around Buffy and Dawn. 'I'm so glad to see you both. Cordelia told us you were on your way, but I needed to see you both for myself.'

Buffy reached up and ran her hand tentatively down his face 'You're really okay?'

'I'm really okay.'

'How? Not that I'm not really, really happy that you're okay, but how?' Buffy hugged him back, careful not to hang on too tight, but enjoying the solid feeling of the man she loved as her father in her arms.

'Cordelia.' Giles answered simply, and gestured to the corner by the counter.

Buffy and Dawn's eyes followed the gesture. At first they couldn't see anything, but then, slowly, a glow appeared, and resolved itself into Cordelia.

'Hi.'

'Cordelia!? What happened to you? What are you?'

'Are ya' dead?' Dawn interrupted

'Of course she's not dead. When I was dead did I come back and glow at you, and fix broken buildings?'

'I kind of ascended, not like the Mayor,' she added hurriedly, as Buffy's look turned suspicious 'It was the Power's idea, not mine!! Anyway, for my first mission I get to help you lot sort yourselves out, and then fight the next apocolypsey Big Bad with you.'

Buffy stared at her, incredulously 'You ascended? You're a Higher Being?'

Cordelia stared back, waiting for the sarcastic quip she was sure was on its way.

'Congratulations. Angel told me about the visions. I'm.. congratulations.' Buffy looked away, unsure of how to continue. She'd wanted to tell Cordelia that she was proud of her, how pleased she was that one of the Sunnydale gang had done so well, when she and the original Slayerettes were so screwed up, but she was scared it would sound patronizing, like she new so much about being a Higher Being.

'Thanks. It's nice to know I can impress you, I never thought I would. And don't worry, we'll get you guys unscrewed pretty quick.'

'How did you know..?'

'Mind reading.'

'Huh?'

'It's one of the pluses of being an HB. I can read minds and intentions and all that stuff. I wasn't trying to listen in then, you were looking me in the eye and I just heard it all. Sorry.' Cordelia shrugged. Her new powers were part of her. The Scooby Gang would just have to learn to deal with it.

'No problem. Had a little experience with mind reading myself. You can turn it off though, right?' Buffy looked concerned, remembering her own brush with insanity in from that particular talent.

'I can turn it down, so I don't really hear it, but if something big happens, it punches through. Don't worry. I'm not going to go nuts. My mind's.. different from your now.' Cordelia smiled at Dawn 'hey Dawnie, how ya doing? Wow.'

'Wow? Wow what? What do you know Cordelia? What's going on?' Buffy grabbed Cordelia's arm, immediately worried by her sudden interest in Dawn.

'Easy protecto girl. Just saw something in Dawnie I wasn't expecting.'

Buffy relaxed fractionally, but still looked a little uneasy, as did Dawn. 'Look, Dawn was The Key, WAS. Now she's my sister and that's it. The monks made her from my blood, made all of our memories, but she's still my sister. As far as we're concerned she always was, and she always will be.'

'The Key?' A new memory appeared in her mind, probably information sent by the Powers she guessed. 'Ah, The Key. Well maybe she was The Key, but not anymore. That fact that she was made from you explains a lot though.'

'Huh?'

'What?'

'What are you talking about Cordelia?' Everyone started asking questions at once.

Cordelia took a step back, holding up her hands 'Hello, motor mouths? If you'd all shut up I might be able to finish a sentence here.'

For some reason this remnant of Queen C seemed to calm them all. This was still Cordelia, she wasn't a threat, well, not in the Big Bad sense of the word. 'Everyone finished? Good. Buffy, you and Dawn just had a battle with those mud, root monsters, right? And Dawnie helped you? She fought with you, alongside you, not just you protecting her, right?'

'Yeah' said Buffy, not really seeing where this was going.

'Dawn was really good in the fight. Not as good as you now, but as good as you were a few years ago?'

'Yeah. Are we actually go anywhere with this, or are you just gonna ask me a bunch of questions?'

'She's a Slayer.'

'What!?!' was screeched in various different voices.

'Dawn's a Slayer. Come on people. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you. Think about it. Dawn was created from Buffy's blood. She was created to be 14, which means she's now 15. Buffy was called when she was 15. Take into account birthdays, or creation days or whatever you want to call it, and Dawn is the same age Buffy was when she was called. Being a Slayer is in the blood. When Dawn reached the age Buffy was when she was called, her Slayerness kicked in automatically. How can none of you have thought of this? Giles?'

'Is she right Giles? Is it true? Is Dawn a Slayer?' Buffy turned to her former Watcher, taking Dawns' hand again.

Cordelia fought the urge to duck, the thoughts and feelings flying around the room were so strong. She'd been focused on Buffy, so her responses came through loudest. Surprisingly, her first feeling was of relief I don't have to protect her anymore. Soon though, it was swamped by guilt, I don't want her to live the kind of life I've had to live. Always in the darkness, always fighting. She battled it back, and behind it, she found a spark of hope. Together. We can do it together. We can fight, and Giles can train her, like he trained me. If we work together, maybe we'll all make it. Looking back, Buffys eyes met Dawns'.

I won't be a burden anymore. I can help, and we'll fight together, like we did in the crypt. Dawn smiled back at her sister, even as her eyes filled with tears. 'Is it true Giles? Am I a Slayer?'

'I don't know.' Giles took his glasses off and began to polish them. 'From what Cordelia says, it does seem likely. Unfortunately, aside from throwing a knife at your head, which I don't think Buffy would agree to, I don't really know what to do to find out. The Council may know of a test, but as they don't know that Buffy is alive again, I'm loathe to let them know about either of you.' He hooked his glasses back on again, and put away his hanky.

'So what do we do?' Buffy started to pace 'you wanna just send her out against some vamps and see how she does?!'

'Buffy. Calm down.' Dawn lay a hand on her sister's arm 'we'll think of something.'

'Err' Willow spoke for the first time since Buffy and Dawn had entered the Magic Box 'Maybe we could do a blood test. If we could find the Slayer ingredient in Buffys' blood is, we could see if it's in Dawnies blood too. Then we'd know for sure. I wouldn't have to do the test. Someone else could do it. You wouldn't have to let me near you with anything sharp.. Or, or maybe I could just not be here, and never be around you all again.' Willow seemed to shrink into herself as Buffy stared at her, no emotion visible on her face. 'I should go.' She started towards the door, giving Buffy and Dawn as wide a birth as possible.

Xander caught her arm, stopping her forward momentum, but Buffys look stopped him from saying anything. 'You could do that.'

Cordelia eyed Buffy. If she hadn't been able to sense Buffys intentions, she'd have been jumping in with both feet by now. The fact that Xander and Giles both kept their peace when Cordelia could feel how badly they wanted to comfort Willow, was testament to their faith in Buffy. Cordelia had to admit, to herself at least, she was a little surprised at Giles's feelings towards Willow. Having healed Giles's wounds, she'd seen just how badly off he was, all of it inflicted by Willow. Giles wasn't mad though. Looking closer, Cordelia saw why. Giles saw so much of himself in Willow. The academic who found the wild side. He understood the pull of dark magicks. He admired Willow because she had been strong enough to turn away from it. It had taken the death of a friend to make him turn away. Willow had stopped before she had gone that far, only to be knocked back into it by the senseless loss of Tara. When Angelus had killed Jenny, Giles only thought had been to destroy. He hadn't practised the craft in so long, he'd tried more conventional methods. If he'd had a loved one taken from him so son after he'd given up the magicks, the Ripper would have broken free, and the Gods alone knew what he would have been capable of. He was certain of one thing. Once on the path Willow had started on, with all that dark magick inside her, he would never have got off it, never have had the strength to turn away from the evil inside him. True, it was the magicks she had drawn out of him, and Xanders love for her that had allowed her to fight against the darkness, but without incredible inner strength, the fight would have torn her apart. Cordelia pulled back from Giles's thoughts, a little ashamed at having listened in, but glad she understood.

Buffy stepped sideways, blocking Willows path to the door. 'You could run away from all the people here who love you. Or you could stay and fight.'

Willow gaped at her 'What? How can you say that? How can you say you love me, after all I've done?! Oh God what I've done?!!!....' she hugged herself and started to rock back and to as the tears ran down her face.

Buffy closed the gap between them, grabbing Willow and pulling her into an embrace when she tried to back off 'it's not going to be easy Will, it's going to make what you went through before look like a picnic, but we're not going to let you go away and disappear into the darkness. We all love you. That's why we fought so hard. Now we've got you back, we're never going to let go again.' By this time, Buffy was crying too, stroking Willows hair and rocking her gently.

Eventually, Willow pulled back. As Buffy wiped the tears from her face, she returned the favour. 'Thank you. I don't deserve it but thank you all so much.' She held out a tentative hand to Dawn, who smiled, and then wrapped her arms around Willow and Buffy. She was bigger than both of them. Looking over their heads, she met Giles's eyes. He smiled, and he and Xander joined the group hug. Anya pointedly looked the other way until Dawn reached out a hand to her and pulled her in too.

'Cordy, you gonna join us?'

'Nah, I'll just stand over here and glow. If there was any more emotion coming off you lot, the roof'd be coming in again.'

Slowly, they all split apart, with much sniffing and eye wiping. They continued to stand close together though. Ying them, Cordelia realised something. This group had been through so much together, nothing could keep them apart. She snorted. She supposed she should have guessed that earlier, like when death hadn't managed it.

'I hate to say the thing that no one wants to hear, but hey, it's a habit. What about Warren? Anya glanced from face to face 'this whole group hug, everyone loves each other is very touching, but what if the police come asking questions? These things have to be considered, and having a person arrested for murder in the shop might be bad for business!'

Giles put his arm around Willows shoulder, and looked reproachfully at Anya over his glasses. 'The shop really isn't a priority at the moment Anya.'

'Yeah, and just think, you'd get loads of free publicity if Willow got arrested here!' Dawn added brightly. 'Sorry. Only trying to help.'

Cordelia had spent most of this discussion looking at the ceiling. She was discovering that when the Powers decided she needed to know something, they just inserted it into her head. It was like an old memory resurfacing, the more she thought about it, the clearer it got. As Skip had faded out when Buffy walked in, it was the only way she was getting information at the moment.

'You don't need to worry about the police.' Everyone turned to look at her again. She was glowing brighter. This was a new experience to Buffy and Dawn, but they took it in stride. 'He never got on with his parents, there's no body, and he was seen hanging around the bus station and the train station. Plus, he was a geek. No one cares. As far as the human world is concerned, you got away with it.'

'What? But - No! That's wrong. I did this awful, terrible thing and I have to be punished!' Willow started to work herself up into a guilty frenzy again, but Cordelia cut her off.

'Whoa girl!! I said the human world. My world, that's a whole different thing.' Willow looked somewhat mollified by this, Buffy on the other hand, looked scared, and when Buffy was scared for her friends, it usually turned to anger.

'Look Cordelia., Willow has helped save the world I don't know how many times. Yeah, she screwed up, big time. But the Powers can't just make some arbitrary decision to punish her. I need her. The Slayer needs her! So they can't have her!'

'There she goes again, protecto girl. As I was saying.' She looked sideways at Buffy '.The Powers feel that what you did was way up there on the really, REALLY bad idea scale. Warren had the makings of a major player for the dark side though, so you did us a favour getting rid of him. Your methods leave a lot to be desired though. Embracing the Dark Arts like that, and having the ability to channel that power makes you potentially a huge risk. The strength you showed in turning away from the darkness makes that risk worth while -'

'Never again. I'm never touching the magicks again. I know I said that before, but this time I've seen just how bad it can get. I looked into the darkness, and I wanted it all. I'm never going near it again.'

'Willow.' The look Cordelia gave her was full of compassion, and just a little bit of pity, and fear. 'You've lived on the hellmouth all your life. Do you honestly think it's going to be that simple?'

Willow took a small step back, whilst Buffy and Dawn took her hands. 'W- what do you mean?'

Good Cordelia thought as usual, the Scooby Gang sticks together. Maybe with all their help, she's got a chance to make it through this.

'When you took all that magick into you, it changed you. Changed you physically. The good magick you took from Giles, and the love Xander offered you pretty, much cancelled out the evil in you, but the magick's still there. It's part of you. You're a magickal being now Willow. Your punishment is that you can't quit the magicks. It'll always be there, and you have to use it, or it'll explode out of you. You have to control it, or it'll control you. You've helped the Slayer for six years now, and that has been taken into consideration. You will continue to help her, but now you'll have a more active role in the fight.' All the time she had been speaking, Cordelia had glowed brighter still, and her voice had taken on a deeper, more resonant tone. Now her glow dimmed, and she returned to her normal speaking voice. 'Get Buffy or Giles to train you. Angel's been training me. It's actually kind of fun, and it takes all the guilt out of chocolate fudge cake if you've been kicked around a training mat by someone twenty times stronger than you for a couple of hours.'

'That's it? That's my punishment? Carry on helping Buffy. I'd have done that anyway! It's too easy.'

Giles looked at her sadly 'Do you really think so Willow? Knowing how much power you can wield? Remember what a little thing changing Tara's memory seemed to be? Every magickal action you take, you will have to weigh up, think over, second guess, but you can't just leave it, you have to do something, knowing you might be getting it totally wrong. Every spell you cast will remind you of what you have seen and done. You're not just one of the good guys now. You'll be on the path of redemption. A lot of people know about what happened here, and they'll come looking for you. Some to turn you, some to punish you. Just as Angel, and Faith became notorious, so will you. Are you ready to face that? Doesn't seem so easy now, does it?'

Cordelia looked around the room 'Just remember, you all have each other, and I have a feeling there are going to be more.' She looked up 'I've gotta go now, I'm being called. You guys get some sleep, and talk things out. I'll be back, maybe in a day or so.' With that, she glowed brighter, and then faded away.

'Well,' said Xander, giving Willow one last hug 'as exciting as all this has been, I need to get to a bed or I'm calling dibs on the counter.'

'Xander's right. We all need to sleep. How about we meet up again tomorrow, here at 10.00 and try and make some sense of all this?' Buffy hooked an arm through Willow's, and the other through Dawns 'come on guys, lets go home.'

The End - For now..

Hopefully, this is going to turn into a series, I've got it all planned out in my head, I've just got to find time around dull things like work to it all written down.