Sister Witches

Repaying Her Debt

"Why are you helping me?" Cordelia suddenly asked.

"Because you need help?" Angel responded, not understanding why she was asking in the first place.

"No, I mean. Why are you helping after everything that's happened?" She asked again. "It was my ex-husband who shot you. And now, your sister is missing and I can't even begin to help you find her." Fiona's voice continued to echo in her mind. The words she spoke to her daughter were incredibly harmful and had struck deep into her heart.

Angel sighed, placing the bloody rag on the floor. She forced Cordelia to lay down and try to relax. Angel was surprised the witch was even conscious after all she had done to herself.

"Because, the shootin' wasn't your fault. Ya know this. And I'm guessin' the reason ya blinded yourself was to actually help me and the rest of the girls, Misty included." Angel explained, she placed a hand on her arm and gave it a soft squeeze. "You're a good woman, Miss Cordelia. You're selfless and ya care about others. Maybe even too much if these are the lengths you're willin' to go to to help out." She softly chuckled to herself before sighing sadly, "Ya tried to help me earlier and I just threw it back in your face and for that I'm sorry. I know ya helped me when I was injured. Now it's time for me to return the favor."

If Cordelia could cry she would. She didn't know Angel had felt that way about her and she was grateful to the young girl with her. She personally didn't feel as if she was worthy of anyone's help, especially from Angel. She felt as if she had failed the girls and the coven over and over again, that losing her vision was the only was to be helpful around here. All the recent events driving her to do something desperate in order to begin fixing things.

"Thank you, Angel. I promise, I'm going to do everything in my power to bring Misty back home to you." She spoke earnestly.

Angel shook her head in disbelief and scoffed out a laugh, "See? Even now, you're not concerned about your own wellbein'."

Myrtle had then entered the room, a small bowl in her hand, filled with the same mixture that was used on Angel's own wounds. The two worked together to carefully place the mixture around Cordelia's eyes. Once they were done, Myrtle casting an Analgesic spell. "What was that?" The young girl asked.

Myrtle smiled, "It's a spell to help with the pain, my dear. So Delia can rest comfortably and recover."

Angel nodded as the elder tried to lead the young witch out of the room so Cordelia could rest on her own but the blinded woman stopped her.

"I would like it if Angel could stay, actually." She requested.

"Really?" Angel asked.

"Yes, I don't think it's best if either of us are left alone. Don't you think so?"

Angel tried not to take offence to the comment, Cordelia wasn't trying to be mean. Angel wasn't sure if Cordelia could ever really be intentionally malicious. "Are you sure, Miss Cordelia?"

"Yes, I'm sure." She smiled.

Angel glanced back at Myrtle who nodded back at her and left the room, softly closing the door behind her departing figure. The young girl busied herself with tidying up the room, cleaning up the dirty towels and her bloody shirt, placing them in the sink to be taken care of later.

"You can grab a shirt from my closet." Cordelia spoke softly, her mind starting to drift off into sleep. "I have some sleep shirts placed in the back."

"Okay, thank you, Miss Cordelia." Angel replied, going into the woman's closet and finding the smallest sleeping shirt she could find. She found a black one and slipped it over her head, entering the room and making her way towards the unoccupied space on the bed. She sat back and tried to relax, keeping a close eye on the blonde beside her. 

She was a little uncomfortable, she had only shared a bed with Misty before so this was new territory for her; she also wasn't entirely sure why Cordelia had asked to keep her company. Surely she didn't think the small blonde would do something bad to herself, right? Maybe Cordelia was starting to view Angel as the sister she never had? Maybe, it was just because this had been the first real human interaction she had had since Nan's funeral and the headmistress didn't wish for the girl to slip back into her near catatonic state. Or it simply could've been that the woman honestly didn't wish to be alone tonight. Whatever the reason, she wasn't going to ask.

"You don't have to call me 'Miss' all the time, you know." Cordelia whispered suddenly.

Angel slightly jumped in surprise, she thought the witch had fallen asleep by now. "It'll be a hard habit to break, but I'll try Miss- I mean, Cordelia." She chuckled, "Blegh, doesn't sound right." She whispered, shaking her head.

Cordelia gave a sleepy chuckle in response. It wasn't long after that, that the older blonde had finally fallen asleep. Angel wasn't sure if she was even going to be able to sleep after seeing what she did. She still couldn't wrap her head around why the headmistress would mutilate herself in such a manner. She knew Cordelia was a good-hearted woman but willfully blinding yourself for the sake of the coven? That took some dedication.

As her eyes began to slip shut against her will, she could hear the muffled conversation between Myrtle and Fiona. It didn't sound like it was going over well. She briefly panicked when she heard footsteps approaching outside the door. She figured Fiona would want to check on her daughter; but how would she feel to find a fellow student in the room with her? Would she somehow spin it to make it look like this was Angel's fault? Probably, she thought. The Supreme was conniving that way, always finding a way to harm the other witches of the coven.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the footsteps depart. She really didn't feel like speaking to Fiona. She never had a one-on-one conversation with the Supreme and tonight didn't seem like the night to do it. Finally feeling some semblance of peace, Angel took the opportunity to properly lay down and relax. Fortunately for her, her mind was silent in the moment and she focused on the steady breathing of Cordelia beside her. Within a few minutes, she found herself drifting off into a restless slumber.