Silence In Shadows by Kika

Summary: He watched in the shadows, waiting for the person he once knew so well.

Spoilers: Up to Salvage, Season Four.

He hid in the darkness.

A motionless shadowy figure clouded in mystery, untouched by the full moon above. The blackness clung to him like a mother would a child. He had become absorbed by his surroundings; the damp, festering, shadows he knew so well.

And he stood alone.

Again.

Rats scurried between his feet, a whole other population thriving in the sewers below, surfacing at the prospect of a meal. Whiskers twitching and tails dragging behind, they stayed with him in shadows.

He was watching. Waiting.

For the woman he once knew; the woman he knew so well.

He could sense her in the distance. Knew she was coming. Knew she was near. Finally, he could see a figure out of the corner of his eye, a lone person emerging into the light.

It was her.

She looked and smelt as he had remembered, the same clothing and perfume covering her body. He sniffed the fusty air to draw in her scent, recollecting how she could make her presence known to him just by the perfume she wore.

Never having to say a word.

She had the same mannerisms; her captivating laugh and bright sparklingly smile. The smile that could bring a room to life, the smile that could wrap him around her little finger if she had tried.

But she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Many would be forgiven for thinking she was still that very same Cordy. The Cordy they all knew.

The Cordy he knew.

They had struggled for a solution, a cure, to bring back that woman. But it wasn’t possible. Not now.

‘She isn’t the Cordelia we once knew,’ Wes told him. And he was right; she wasn’t that girl. Her body no longer under her control. ‘If you don’t do it, we will.’

She was the ‘enemy’ he must destroy.

He moved through the shadows like the creature of the night he was. Unseen. Quick. Darting between patches of darkness as he drew ever closer to her. So close he could hear her heart beating, touch her skin.

His hand reached inside his pocket, clasping an object tightly. And as his arm moved towards her, she never even saw what had hit her.

The blade slid in quickly, like a knife slicing through butter. If only it was that simple, that uncomplicated.

That easy.

Her body dropped back, unable to support herself, as she fell into his arms. They both slumped to the ground as he dropped his weight along with hers.

Thump.

And there she lay, in his arms. The city thrived around them; never to sleep as the neon lights flashed in the distance. Red. Green. Blue.

Black.

His hands stroked her face as tenderly as a light summer’s breeze brushing against the skin. And as her dark eyes met his, she let out a final breath. One last word evading the trembling, pain ridden, lips of the woman he held.

”Angel.”

His bare hands trembled beneath him as blood seeped across them, covering them inch-by-inch.

Her blood.

His looked down at his limbs. His very own hands that had stolen away the bright light in his life. Hands that had been able to accomplish so much good in this world.

Yet had brought about so much pain.

Sheltered in his encompassing arms, she looked the same. Smelt the same. And as reason gave way – she now was the same.

His Cordy.

His body fell forward as he buried his head deep into the crook of her neck, whispering forgiveness into her ear. But she couldn’t hear him now. He rocked in despair as he sobbed, his heart full of grief, his eyes filled with tears.

For the body of the woman he loved lay dead in his arms.

And with that so did his heart.

End.

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