|
|
Cordelia Harris awoke on the lawn of Sunnydale High School. It was night, and a cold wind blew across a deserted landscape. She lifted herself to her feet and observed the land behind her. It was a worn, dismal graveyard laced with graffiti-ridden walls and broken buildings. She scurried up the steps leading into the building and ran for the library.
There were guards at the door, but they allowed her to enter without incident. She thrust open the doors and there sat an older Giles with a cup of coffee and an open book.
"Cordelia?"
"Giles, what happened? I changed the future. I didn't fail."
"Failed what?" Giles asked.
"My mission, don't you remember. I traveled back in time to stop you from causing the Apocalypse. Why don't you remember? The Corrupter Kronos . . .time travel . . .doesn't that ring a bell?"
Giles got off his chair. "Yes, I vaguely recall that. It was so many years ago . . .it feels almost like a dozen lifetimes. Are you only now arriving from that journey?"
"Yes Giles. What happened here? Where are the others?"
"Who?"
"Buffy, Willow, Xander and the others?"
"Cordelia . . .they're gone. They've been gone for years. They are our enemies now."
"What?"
"They are vampires, Cordelia."
"What the hell happened, Giles? Fill me in . . .on everything."
Giles sat down and pulled off his glasses. He seemed reluctant to answer. Then he took a deep breath and spoke. "A murder in 1999 started it all. When Joyce . . . Buffy's mother was killed, everything changed. Buffy became unstable. She became a Slayer the likes of which her kind had never known. She never slept, she only hunted. She slaughtered demons without control. I tried to stop her, but I could not. She wound up slaying a demon named Whistler, a good demon placed her to even the score against evil. She knew who he was and she killed him anyway. When she did this, the Old Ones passed judgment on her. They sentenced her for the crime of murder against one of their kind. Her punishment was to become what she despised most in the world. She was turned to a vampire. Once this occurred, she ambushed those closest to her one by one. Willow, Xander, Oz, she sired them. She seduced Angel one night, hoping to bring Angelus back. Angel faltered, but before he lost his soul again, he committed suicide. You and I and Amy were able to seclude ourselves before Buffy got to us. The three of us formed a resistance as the world was thrown into darkness."
"The Master rose?"
"No, a demon named Iago assumed leadership of the vampire hordes. He became a Dark Master, initiating a new line of Dark Slayers to which Buffy became the first. She began a campaign of ridding all opposition. She betrayed her kind, exterminating the Chosen before they could be called. It was a massacre."
"What about your people? The Council could not combat this?"
"They were the next to fall, murdered in their chambers, their homes. Iago and Buffy gave no quarter, they killed without mercy. Watchers worldwide, their families, all destroyed." Giles' voice faltered.
"Where do we stand now?"
"This is a dark world, Cordelia. We fight, but there is no hope for victory. Once we fall, our world will cease to exist and it will be the way it was before we assumed control. It is the natural order of life. One species rises and falls, another replaces it."
"Damn that thinking! Who replaced Buffy? Is there no Slayer?"
"Yes, Cordelia. She exists. Her name is Amanda. But she is only a child. She is in hiding until she can complete her training and fight for us. But there is no hope."
"What of Spike, did he ever join our cause?"
"Yes, he resides with the Slayer."
Cordelia closed her eyes. *How could things have turned out so bad.* "Send me back, Giles. I have to change this."
Giles nodded. "Yes, you can go back. The only thing that we have plenty of now ... is time."