10
Time and Again - Part 1: In The Beginning
Sunnydale High – Thursday 4th September 1997 (Flashback – Night)
The fire had been put out, and the initial frantic activity had calmed considerably. The flashing red lights of the emergency vehicles still played across the faces of the firemen, police and onlookers as Cordelia slowly picked her way over the tangle of fire hoses to the ambulance where Xander and Willow were standing chatting.
//I can't believe I'm going to do this,// she thought. //But he did just save my life and he seemed so dashing – not really like Xander at all.//
"Xander?" she began, feeling hesitantly for the right words. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my life."
//God! This is even more painful than I thought it would be.//
"What you did in there was really brave and heroic, and I just wanted to tell you if there was anything that I could ever do to..."
But Xander cut her off before she could finish. "Do you mind? We're talking here."
//I should have known better,// Cordelia huffed internally and rolled her eyes at the boy's blindness before turning away. //That does it! I'm going home.//
With so many people standing around rubber necking, it was a bit of a struggle to make her way towards the locker rooms, so Cordelia decided to take a diversion around the back of the gym building where there would be nobody to slow her down. Striding along briskly, she noticed nothing untoward until a hand on her shoulder suddenly sent her stumbling sideways.
Her foot caught on a stone and she threw her hand out to stop her fall. But it passed straight through the space where the wall should have been. Cordelia cried out in surprise as her fall continued un-arrested.
The darkness which closed in around her was absolute. A black velvety darkness undisturbed by the slightest hint of light or the tiniest sound. Cordelia was aware of time passing, but she had no sensation of movement or direction any longer. Even her breathing and heartbeat were silent. In fact she was no longer able to sense her own body. Was she still breathing? Was her heart beating? Was she even alive any longer? She did not get long to think about how strange her rising panic felt unaccompanied by the usual physical symptoms, before the darkness around her splintered with dazzling light and physical sensation returned.
She cried out in relief at being able to feel her body once more, but the cry turned into one of distress as she struck the unseen ground hard, driving the breath from her lungs and the sickening crack of her right arm breaking was dreadfully loud in this new place's unnatural silence.
The smooth floor was extremely cold under her hand as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. The movement brought a sharp complaint from her chest, suggesting that she could add at least one broken rib to her tally of injuries. Hissing through her teeth, Cordelia carefully lifted her broken arm to cradle it in her lap before turning her attention to the world around her. Unfortunately, she could see nothing to take her mind off the pain.
She was sitting on a smooth white surface that extended away from her in every direction. There was no sign of any walls or horizon and indeed she could not tell where the featureless floor merged into the equally featureless "sky" above her. The place was almost painfully bright, flooded with white light that seemed to come equally from all directions. The air around her seemed quite warm, but the floor was as cold as ice, dry and totally texture-less beneath her palm. The pounding of her heart and the harsh rasp of each pained breath were abnormally loud in her ears without the quiet background of everyday sounds to mask them.
//Now what?// she thought, continuing to scan the emptiness for some indication of what she should do next. //Well, at least with all this light I don't have to worry about being attacked by vampires.// Her attempt to cheer herself up fell completely flat as she became aware of the small red spots disturbing the pristine whiteness of the floor below her. Steeling herself for the worst, she shifted her gaze to her broken arm. The growing red patch staining the yellow sleeve of her cheerleading top was alarmingly large already. When she gently peeled the material away from the wound she had to fight down the urge to vomit at the sight of the jagged piece of bone poking out through the skin of her forearm. //Oh god! That's going to leave a scar, I just know it.//
A disturbance in the air caused Cordelia to look up and she was startled to discover that a figure had appeared beside her. Despite squinting her eyes, Cordelia could discern nothing about the stranger beyond a vague sense of flowing robes. Her eyes just would not seem to focus on the figure and she could not tell if it was a man or a woman. //Or,// she thought with a sudden sinking feeling, //if it's even human at all.// As the figure just stood quietly beside her making no threatening movements, Cordelia felt her initial alarm fade slightly to be replaced by a rising irritation that it was not making any move to help her with her injuries.
"Well?" she asked finally. "Are you just going to stand there all day? I'm injured here!"
There was still no response from the figure. Despite not being able to make out the being's face – or even tell for certain that it had one – Cordelia got the definite impression that it was staring straight at her. After another long moment of silence the figure slowly raised an arm and reached towards Cordelia who found herself rooted to the spot. Even as it approached her cheek, she still could not make out any details beyond a vaguely hand shaped blob at the end of an equally vague arm.
Her cheek tingled at the point of contact then she felt a shimmer of energy race out across her skin leaving a spreading numbness in its wake. A deep resonant tone echoed within her mind forming the words **Your true self will be revealed**. Confused by this strange statement, she had only a moment to worry before she felt her senses fading and she slipped away into unconsciousness.
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