Part 1
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Angel stared at the toe of his shoe. He flinched slightly as he heard the soft thud of a body impacting the asphalt. The night air crackled with electricity. He only looked up when a hand gently touched his shoulder.
“It’s over.”
He turned and pulled the tall brunette, who had been his friend and lover all these years, into his arms.
Cordelia pulled back and slid her sword into the hidden scabbard of Angel’s jacket. “You would think the scourge of Europe wouldn’t be so squeamish over a little sword fight,” she said.
“If you weren’t one of the fighters, I wouldn’t be,” he said, draping his arm over her shoulder.
She leaned her hand on his shoulder. “I love you, too.”
Angel and Cordelia left the parking lot and headed for the club that had been their destination when they were intercepted by the Immortal. It was Cordy’s anniversary. Eighty years ago today she had died and become one of the Immortals. Eighty years to the day when Angel realized what he would have lost if she had been an average mortal. But Cordelia Chase had never been average.
They paused outside the seedy club. “This place looks worse every year,” he said. “Are you sure you want to go in?”
“Of course. This is the first place you told me you loved me,” she answered as she tugged on his arm.
They entered the dark, smoke filled room. It had to be the only place in California that still allowed smoking. And not just cigarettes. Of course, there weren’t very many people brave enough to ask the patrons to put out a cigarette.
Cordelia paused as she felt the presence of another Immortal. She scanned the room to pin point the location. Her hazel eyes were drawn to the back corner of the room.
“What is it?” Angel asked.
“Another Immortal,” she said over the loud music.
“Where?”
Cordy pointed. “Back there somewhere.”
Angel searched the area. A flash of white blonde hair caught his attention. Then he felt it. “Spike?”
“Spike?” Cordelia rose up on her tip toes to see over the heads of the biker gang in front of her. Finally she spotted the trade mark leather duster. “Wanna go say hello?”
“If only to find out what he’s doing in LA,” he said. He began weaving his way through the crowd. Cordelia followed closely behind him.
As they moved closer, the sensation of another Immortal grew stronger. She realized they were walking straight towards it.
Angel could tell when Spike recognized his presence. His childe turned when he stood a few feet away. His blue eyes moved between his sire and the leggy brunette. He pushed Angel back a step with a hand to his chest. “Not right now, mate,” he said just loud enough for Angel to hear.
“When?”
Spike glanced over his shoulder for a moment. “Ten minutes. Out back,” he said before returning to the table.
Cordelia tried to see around Angel and Spike. The blonde vampire was shielding someone from view.
Angel wrapped his fingers around Cordy’s wrist and pulled her away from the table. “Let’s go,” he said.
“I swear I don’t know, Phoenix,” the terrified man begged. While he out weighted her by at least a hundred pounds and towered over her by a foot, he was scared shitless. Anyone with half a brain feared The Phoenix. “I have not reason to lie to you.”
“And every reason to tell the truth,” Spike said as he twisted a long thin braid of her hair around his finger.
She studied him carefully as her fingers stroked the etched surface of her blade. She watched for any sign of deception. “You will tell me if you see him, won’t you, Mike.” The words came out as an order rather than a question.
Mike nodded vigorously. “Of course, Phoenix. You’ll be the first to know,” he said in a rush. A chill ran down his spine when her smile failed to reach her eyes.
“Good.” Spike pulled her chair back as her fingers curled around the hilt of her katana sword. She slid the steel blade into its scabbard and left the table.
Spike followed behind her. “Angel’s here,” he said outside.
“Well, it is his town.” He led the way to the back alley. They found Angel talking to Cordelia.
Cordelia looked up as she felt the Immortal enter the alley. She looked passed Spike. The figure moved slowly in the shadows. She saw the scabbard in her hand. It was red lacquered with gold inlay. The metallic surface glinted in the dim lighting. What little lighting there was slid along the curved pieces like a flame. *The Phoenix.*
Angel took a step closer to his childe. “Spike, what are you doing in LA?”
“Looking for someone,” the blonde vampire answered.
“I don’t want any trouble in my town.”
“It’s LA, Peaches. Trouble is this town’s middle name,” Spike laughed.
“Who are you looking for?” Angel asked.
“A demon called Aponix.”
“Why?”
“It’s personal. Have you heard of him?” Spike asked. He didn’t like asking his sire for help, but if it got him out of this damn town quicker he’d swallow his pride.
“No, but I’ll keep my ears open.” Anything to get his childe out of his town.
Cordelia moved around the two vampires to get closer to The Phoenix. She never heard the blade leave the scabbard, but felt the tip bite into the hollow of her throat. A warm trickle of blood dripped between her breasts. Her eyes focused on the woman still hidden by shadows.
Spike stepped between the two women and carefully placed his hand upon the sharp blade. “Unless you’d like to lose that pretty little head of yours, I wouldn’t do that again,” he told Cordy. “I’ll be in touch,” he said to Angel before escorting his companion out of the alley.
Angel walked over to Cordelia. His fingers wiped away the blood on her neck. “Are you okay?”
“Angel, do you remember me talking about The Phoenix?” she asked. Her eyes remained focused on the couple walking away from them.
“The Immortal who’s out for some sort of vengeance?”
She nodded as she turned to look at him. “That was The Phoenix.”
Angel glanced at the empty entrance. “I always thought she’d be taller. What’s she doing with Spike?” he asked.
“Angel, it’s Willow.”
Part 2
Angel stared in shock at Cordelia. "Willow? Are you sure?"
"I saw her eyes, Angel. Even through all that make-up I could tell it was her," Cordy said.
Angel ran both hands through his short hair. "I thought she died with the others," he said quietly.
Cordelia laced her fingers with his; she didn't have the heart to remind him that to become Immortal Willow must have died at some point. *Not quite the anniversary I had planned on,* she mused. "Let's go home," she said aloud.
****
Spike walked a few steps behind her. *Always a step ahead or a step behind, but never at her side,* he thought. He watched her long hairbrush against her bare back. He'd spent two days braiding hundreds of tiny plaits into her hair last week. Spike had warned her there was nothing to do in Wisconsin and the blizzard didn't help. His blue eyes followed the tiny red and gold beads he fixed to the ends of the braids to keep them from unraveling. They complimented her tattoo.
It was a beautiful piece of artwork. The red, yellow and orange flames danced across her skin as the muscles moved. Fifty years hadn't diminished the colors or lines of the ink; Toshi had done an excellent job. Spike supposed it helped that her back was only exposed at night so the sun didn't have a chance to break down the pigment. Through the dancing flames he could see the Phoenix rising from the fire.
Shaking his head he returned his attention to the woman in front of him. "You really think he's here in LA?" he asked.
"He's close," she answered.
*Like I've never heard that before,* he thought. They always seemed to be close to their prey, but never close enough. "So what's the first thing you're going to do after you kill him?" he asked as they climbed the stairs to their motel room.
She pulled the key from her pocket and unlocked the door. "Don't know." She tossed the key carelessly on the bed and moved to the dresser. She gently placed her sword on its stand.
Spike watched as she caressed the scabbard. There were times he hated that damn sword. She would leave a town with just the clothes on her back as long as that katana was in her hand. "Don't know? You've had your life planned for the last eighty years. Okay, yeah, it's been the same damn plan every day, but after he's dead you don't know what comes next? How about Disneyland?"
She glanced over her shoulder. "Don't know and don't really care either." She turned to stare at her reflection in the dresser mirror. Her dark red hair was pulled into a high ponytail; her make-up was heavy and dark, especially around the eyes. She lifted a hand to brush the black leather choker around her neck. "Maybe, after its over I'll find Cordelia and let her take my head," she said quietly.
Spike stared at her in disbelief. When she turned to walk away from him, he did something that he hadn't done in eighty years. He touched her. Oh, he played with her hair all the time. She allowed that, but never her body. His fingers closed around her upper arm. "What? You'd just give up your head to the Prom Queen?" he asked. "What about that 'There can be only one' prize crap?"
She lifted her eyes from his hand to his face. "I never cared about that stupid game. And you know it."
That was true. If it hadn't been for Aponix she wouldn't have become such a skilled fighter. She only wanted to live in order to kill the demon that killed her. "Fine. What about me, huh? Is it going to be 'Oh, gee, thanks for wasting eighty years of your life to help me, Spike. Now fuck off so I can go get myself killed'," he ranted. "You're just a selfish bitch!"
She twisted her arm from his tight grasp. "You can fuck off right now, Spike. I _never_ asked you for help. You were always trailing after me like some faithful puppy no one wanted," she said calmly.
Her words cut through him quicker than her blade ever could. Without a word he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.
She entered the bathroom and closed the door quietly. Turning on the sink she began scrubbing her face. Once it was free of make-up, she found a pair of scissors and climbed on the counter top. She pulled her hair free of the elastic band and brought the ends over one shoulder. Slowly she cut the ends of her braids just above the tiny beads. One by one she unraveled the plaits. It took her two hours to finish. After she hopped down from the counter top she swept the beads and hair into the wastebasket. She turned on the shower and began to strip out of her clothes.
Ignoring her reflection she stepped under the hot spray. She washed her loose hair three times to get all the kinks out. When she finished, she wrapped a towel around her body and one around her wet hair. She grabbed her brush and left the bathroom.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed she pulled the towel from her head. She stared at her reflection as she started to brush her hair. "Who are you?" she asked her reflection. "I know you're not Willow Rosenberg anymore. You haven't been that innocent since that night." She paused with her hair half brushed. One side lay smooth against her head and back while the other remained a wild tangle. "Are you really The Phoenix? A cold hearted bitch out for vengeance at any cost?"
Her reflection didn't answer. Not that she expected it to. She wasn't insane, just confused.
"A hundred and six years old and you're having an identity crisis. What would Spike say?" She thought back to his retreating back and frowned. "Probably to tell me to go fuck myself," she sighed.
She continued pulling the brush through her tangled hair. She knew she'd hurt Spike with her words. She was good at that. Anytime he started to get too close, she cut him. It happened about every four or five years. This time she wasn't sure he would come back to her. She didn't want him to get too close, but at the same time she needed his strength and support.
With a sigh she scooted back on the bed and turned on the television. By the time the Info-mercial was over, she was asleep.
Part 3
Spike slipped into the room quickly. The sun's rays were just starting to pierce the darkness. He stared at her sleeping form on the bed. *First, Angelus, then Drusilla, and now Willow. I've got to be a masochist,* he thought. As much as her words hurt him, he couldn't stay away. He sat on the end of the bed and watched her sleep.
She had scrubbed the make-up away and taken out the braids. Once again she looked like the Willow he remembered. Spike knew it would only last until she woke up, then she would become The Phoenix again. Gently, he brushed her hair off her back. He studied her bare back, not the intricate tattoo that covered from the base of her neck to the swell of her ass, but the horrendous scars beneath the ink.
It had been his idea to get the tattoo. Spike figured Willow should have something beautiful to cover the ugliness she experienced at Aponix' hands. He found Toshi in San Francisco and commissioned him to do the work. As he talked to Willow, Toshi designed the piece. She had been impressed with the grandeur of it and agreed to have it done. They had stayed in San Francisco for two months while the work was done.
While he worked, Toshi told her legends of the Phoenix. Her favorite tale came from his homeland of Japan.
~~~~~~~~
A young maiden named Akako lived a happy and simple life in her village. She lived with her parents and younger sister. Every morning she would wake early to see the sun rise over the mountains surrounding her village. She did her chores without complaint and respected her parents.
One day a warlord road through Akako's small village and saw the beautiful girl working in the garden. Her skin was like ivory and her hair as black as jet. She was small and delicate. Everything he wanted in a wife. He rode his horse through her vegetable garden and asked her for her name.
"I am called Akako," she said politely.
"Akako, I am Keiji. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Skin like ivory and hair the color of jet. I would have you for my wife," he said.
"I am but a simple farm girl, my lord. I must humbly decline your worthy offer," she politely declined.
"I can offer you wealth beyond your wildest dreams," he said. *Perhaps she doesn't realize who I am,* he thought.
"I have the rich soil to grow food and a stream teaming with fish to eat. I have my family and good health. There is nothing that would make me richer. Again, I must humbly decline your worthy offer," she said politely.
Keiji grew angry. No one had ever denied him anything. *Ah, I have something she will want,* he thought. "I can offer you power. You need only speak and your wish will be done," he said with a chuckle. *Surely she couldn't decline that.*
She bowed her head to him so he couldn't see her smile. *He is such a silly man to offer me things I already possess,* she thought. "I most humbly apologize, my lord. I already possess such power. If I want something I merely have to do it and it is done. Once more I must humbly decline your worthy offer," she said.
The warlord grew angry at her refusal of his generous offer. "I will take away these things and then you will marry me to get them back," he decreed. He ordered his men to destroy the village and arrest the girl. He would hold her in his prison until she changed her mind.
And so it was, every night he came to her and asked her to marry him. And every night she politely declined his worthy offer.
"Why do you still refuse to marry me?" he demanded.
"You only offer me things that I already possess," she said softly.
"I offer you freedom yet you do not have that," he pointed out.
"I have more freedom than you do, my lord," she replied.
Night after night this went on, until in frustration he told his man-at-arms he had had enough. "If she refused to marry me tonight, I want her executed by dawn," he ordered.
He entered her dark cell. "If you refuse to marry me tonight, I will have you burned at the stake," he said, confident she would not refuse him this time.
"Oh, my lord. Once again I must humbly decline your generous offer," she said.
"You want to die?" he asked.
"No, my lord, but I will not marry you."
"Fine. Then you will die."
He left the guards to prepare her execution. The guards took Akako from her cell and tied her to a stake in the courtyard. As the flames licked at her feet, the gods looked down at the young girl. She had a kind soul and deserved much in her young life. The goddess of mercy commanded the flames higher around Akako.
The guards stepped back, as the fire roared higher and higher. They heard a terrifying scream from within the flames. In front of their amazed eyes and giant bird rose from the flames. It soared higher into the heavens. And so the Phoenix was born.
~~~~~~~~~~
Spike remembered Willow's reaction to the tale. Tears slipped from her eyes as Toshi finished his work for the night. "He never offered her the one thing she wanted most," she whispered.
"And what did she want?" Toshi asked.
"Love."
Spike gently traced one of the flames on her back. That was the last time he'd seen her cry. "What do you want in life, pet?" he whispered. "And I don't think it's revenge."
He removed his duster and his boots. Grabbing some blankets he made a pallet on the floor beside the bed. The ragged ends of her hair hung off the side of the mattress. He lifted his hand and played with the silky hair. *She cut the beads off,* he thought as he rubbed the red strands. He'd have to trim it when she woke up.
Part 4
Cordelia walked through the park munching on her croissant. She pulled her light weight jacket a little closer as a breeze ruffled through her hair. She spotted the park bench and sat down. Setting her latte beside her, she watched the children playing on the monkey bars.
"Kind of makes you wish you could go back, doesn't it?" a familiar voice asked.
"But you'd have to go through the headaches of growing up again. I don't know if I'd want to go through that again," Cordy answered.
"Yeah, that would suck." Willow sat down beside her. She tucked her trench coat around her, making sure her sword stayed hidden.
Cordelia studied the red head out of the corner of her eye. Willow had called her so she waited for her to speak first.
They sat and watched the children playing for ten minutes before Willow finally spoke. "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately." She chuckled. "The last two years actually."
"About what?"
"About who I am. What I've become."
"And what's that?"
"Someone I don't like very much. I don't think Spike likes me very much anymore either." She sighed as she leaned forward to rest her arms on her knees. She looked off in the distance, almost beyond this time and place. "He's going to leave me."
Cordelia leaned forward slightly. "He said that?"
Willow shook her head. "He won't have a choice. I'll just keep hurting him until he does."
"Do you want him to leave?" Cordy asked. She brushed a few strands of her hair away from her eyes.
Willow looked back at her. "I don't know what I'd do without him."
Cordy could see the fear in her green eyes. "Then stop hurting him."
She laughed. It was a sad, helpless laugh. The kind heard at a wake. "I can't seem to help myself." She looked down at her hands. "He left me once. For a month. It was about fifteen years ago. I think we were in India. I didn't know what to do. So I waited for him. Obviously, he came back, but our relationship had been strained ever since."
"What happened?"
"He kissed me."
Cordelia knew there had to be more than that so she waited. When it appeared Willow wouldn't continue she opened her mouth to speak.
"I told him that if he ever tried that again I would leave him. It was an empty threat and I think he knew it. So he left. I guess he was punishing me."
Cordelia could hear the sorrow in her voice. She remembered the cheerful teenager she'd spent her high school years. Willow had always been the optimistic one of the old Scooby Gang, always looking for the positive in their negative, demon filled existence. "What happened to you, Willow?"
The red head threw her head back and laughed loudly. "God, I haven't heard that name in eighty years."
"What does Spike call you?"
"Same thing he calls everyone. Pet, luv, ducks. Sometimes Red, if he's in a good mood."
"So what happened?"
Willow's face grew serious as she stared at the spot between her feet. "Maybe someday I'll tell you," she said softly.
"Why not now?"
"Cuz you're not ready to hear it. And besides I have a feeling Spike would want to hear the whole story first. But I will tell you this. Aponix destroyed Willow Rosenberg and Spike picked up the pieces and tried to put me back together." She paused to look passed the swing set as if she were searching for someone. "Only problem is I think my heart got lost somewhere in the reconstruction," she said distractedly. "Gotta go." She got to her feet and left before Cordelia could say a word.
****
Willow crept up behind him. She pulled her sword free of her coat and pressed the tip to his back. "I thought I told you people to stay away from me," she growled.
He lifted his hands in the air. "I'm not here for you," he said.
"Yeah and I'm supposed to believe you." She walked around him slowly.
"I swear, Phoenix. After what you did to Marcus, the Council put a permanent ban on you," he said as his eyes followed her every move.
Willow glanced at the park. She spotted Cordelia drinking her latte. "Make sure it stays that way." She slid the katana back into its hidden scabbard and walked away.
****
Cordelia tossed her keys onto the hall table. Mechanically, she removed her coat and hung it in the closet. She walked into the spacious living room and curled into the corner of the couch.
"Delia, is that you?" Angel called from his office. When he received no response, he went in search of his girlfriend. He found her curled up in a tight ball. Something was definitely wrong. He sat down and lifted her into his lap. He stroked her long hair. "What's wrong, Delia?"
"Willow called me this morning," she said quietly.
"Why?"
"She said she wanted to talk so I met her at the park." Cordelia lifted her hazel eyes. "God, Angel, it's like she's completely broken inside. It was so sad."
"From what I've heard on The Phoenix it doesn't sound like the same person," he said. "Are you sure she's The Phoenix?"
"Yes. Her sword had a Phoenix etched into it. Got a good look at that."
Angel ran his hand through his hair. "She has Spike," he said trying to offer some hope.
She shook her head. "She's so afraid he's going to leave her." She snuggled deeper into his arms. She was glad she had Angel. "She doesn't like who she's become."
"Did she say what happened to her?"
"She said that demon they're after, Epilepsy..."
"Aponix," Angel corrected.
"Yeah, him. She said he destroyed Willow Rosenberg. Spike tried to put her back together, but she no longer had a heart."