It was a dark night, as Darla, newly resurrected, walked along the Las Angeles streets. She was dying. She knew it all too well. It was a feeling that she had had way back in her own time in her own village. Back when her village had been spreading with the disease Syphilis. She had been one of the unlucky ones until The Master turned her. He had seen something in her. Maybe loyalty. She didn't know. She never bothered to ask. But now, resurrected as a human, she would surely die from it. But before she did, she had to go see Angel. He would always be her Angel. Whether he still loved her or not. Rejected her or not. She would always love angel. She would love Angel to the ends of the earth until the day she died for the very last time.
As she tried to do her best to get as close to the Hyperion as she could, she lost her balance and strength and fell to the ground on the side walk. Nobody was out at this hour, so nobody was around to help her. All she could do was lay there on her back and let herself die.
She closed her eyes to let death come. To let it claim her forever.
Cordelia Chase was on her way home from the Hyperion, when she saw a figure on her back on the ground, eyes closed.
"Darla?"
She went and knelt down beside her. When she saw her, she knew what was happening. She was human and dying from Syphilis.
"Darla, can you hear me?"
"Cordelia," she whispered.
"Yeah. It's me."
She looked weakly up at the brunette.
"I'm going to take care of you."
And with that, the former cheerleader put an arm around the blond, helping her to her feet, and then they walked slowly to Cordy's apartment.
Darla lay in Cordy's bed, feeling weak and wanting nothing but to go to sleep and let this all end. Be over with.
Months passed, Cordy not leaving her side except to eat something or help with a case. She slept in a chair nearby. And that's where she sat now.
"You don't have to do this," she whispered, knowing she was just moments away from dying.
"Yes I do. I'm not leaving you. Never. I'm with you until the end. And that's final. I told you in the beginning."
Darla closed her eyes.
"You're a true hero. A true friend. Thanks."
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