"Irresistible"
Author: Michelle
Email: michellabella52478@yahoo.com
The last day of classes was upon them quicker than any of them expected. Graduation would take place the next day, and Buffy knew she was in for the fight of her life. She was as prepared as she could be, but still had no clue as to how to kill the Mayor. One thing she was sure of – he would have to reach Ascension in order for her to do so.
She was lost in her thoughts as she descended the stairs, approaching Willow. "Buffy?" the redhead said.
"Huh? Hey, Will."
"The last day of classes, can you believe it? It's like a sickness, Buffy. I'm just missing everything. I miss P.E.."
She frowned. "I think it's contagious. The whole senior class has turned into the Sixties, or what I would have imagined the Sixties would have been like without the war and the hairy armpits."
"You don't feel it?" Willow asked incredulously. She felt ready to burst, and Buffy acted as if it were just another day.
"No, I don't. I guess I'll miss stuff, but I just don't get the whole graduation thing. I mean, you get a piece of paper and nothing changes. I don't even think I'm gonna go."
Willow put coins in the soda machine and pressed the desired button. "Old trusty soda machine. I push you for root beer, you give me Coke." She brought her attention back to her best friend, who had seated herself at a nearby table. "What do you mean, not go? Why not?"
"Ascension. Mayor becoming a demon. Snacking upon populace. I was planning on fighting him."
"You can't do both?"
Xander walked over and sat down at their table. "Both what?"
"Go to graduation and fight the Mayor," Buffy filled him in.
"The Mayor? What, you guys didn't hear?"
Buffy narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Hear what?"
"Guess who our commencement speaker is?"
"I don't believe this," the Slayer sighed. "The Mayor at graduation? A hundred helpless kids to feed on. Can this get any worse?"
In the library a little while later, Buffy put down the newspaper she'd been reading. "'PROFESSOR FOUND MURDERED'," she read off the headline. "Faith."
"You sure?" Giles questioned.
"One of her pieces. I recognize the brush work."
Her Watcher picked up the paper, skimming the article for useful information that might tie Faith to the murder. "Brutally stabbed. Mr. Wirth, visiting professor of geology. There's nothing in here that bellows motive." He took a breath. "Random killing, perhaps? Fit of rage? Everybody does seem to be going a bit mad, lately. Faith has something of a head start."
Buffy shook her head. "Doesn't read. I think it's homework. The Mayor wanted the good professor out of the way. Which leads to the question, how come? I'm gonna destroy the entire city, but I take the time to kill harmless Lester first?"
"Tying up loose ends?" he suggested. "Lester had something or knew something."
"Then I wanna know, too. The Mayor's trying to hide. I say we go seek. I'll go to his apartment after school, see what I can dig up."
"Be careful. If Faith should show up…"
"I don't think she'll show. Been there, killed that. She's not much for follow-up."
Giles was still worried. Who knew what Faith was capable of. "Nonetheless, keep watch. Faith has you at a disadvantage, Buffy."
"'Cause I'm not crazy or 'cause I don't kill people?"
"Both, actually."
She smiled slightly. "I hear you. I can't kill her, fun as it may sound. I can make her cry uncle, though, and I mean to."
"Don't let your feelings for Faith interfere with your work."
"Stopping Faith is my work. Take a beat to love the synergy."
"Our priority is stopping the Ascension," Giles reminded her.
"Yeah, I know." 'But I've got a few other priorities before tomorrow comes,' she thought.
The library doors burst open and the Mayor entered. Remembering the newspaper, Buffy hid it under her backpack so he wouldn't suspect they were on to him.
"So, this is the inner sanctum. Faith tells me this is where you folks like to hang out, concoct your little schemes. I tell you, it's just nice to see that some young people are still interested in reading in this modern era. So, what are kids reading nowadays?"
The Mayor picked up a book that had been sitting on the table. "'The beast will walk upon the earth and darkness will follow. The several races of man will be as one in their terror and destruction.' Aw, that's kind of sweet. Different races coming together."
"You never get even a little tired of hearing yourself speak, do you?" Buffy asked sarcastically.
He chuckled as he turned to Giles. "That's one spunky girl you've raised. I'm gonna eat her." The Mayor took a moment and paused. "I smell fear. That's smart. Some of your deaths will be quick, if that's worth anything. Well, see you at graduation. You don't want to miss my commencement address. It's going to be one heck of a speech."
"Buffy, I'm home!" Mrs. Summers called as she walked up the stairs to her bedroom. "Do you wanna go to, uh…?" She stopped when she saw her daughter packing a suitcase. "What are you doing?"
"Mom, I need you to leave town. Tonight," Buffy ordered, throwing another blouse in the suitcase.
"Buffy, I'd miss your graduation."
She looked up at her mother. "Yeah, that's sorta the idea."
Mrs. Summers vehemently shook her head. "There's no way. Your father is driving down, and I wouldn't dream…"
"I already called Dad and told him to stay in L.A.. Mom, graduation is a pointless ceremony where you sit around and listen to a bunch of boring speeches until someone hands you a piece of paper that says you graduated which you already know and maroon does nothing for my complexion, so don't argue, okay?" Buffy said breathlessly.
"What, is some terrible demon going to attack the school?" she joked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Seeing the look on her daughter's face, she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Oh, I see. Oh, you know, Buffy, looking back on everything that's happened, maybe I should have sent you to a different school."
"Just promise me that you'll be far away from here."
"I'm not leaving you to face an awful monster. I'm staying."
Buffy had to get through to her. "Mom, I wish I could be a lot of things for you. A great student, a star athlete, remotely normal. I'm not. But there is something I do that I can do better than anybody else in the world. I'm gonna fight this thing, but I can't do it and worry about you. You stay, you'll get me killed. You have to trust me on this. And believe me, you aren't the only person I'm telling to leave Sunnydale."
When he heard the knock on the apartment door, Angel dropped the shirt he'd been about to put on in order to answer it. Cathy was in San Francisco until the next afternoon, and he wasn't expecting company. He opened the door, finding his girlfriend standing on the other side.
"Buffy," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the Bronze at nine o'clock."
"Change of plans." Buffy walked past him, heading directly for his bedroom.
He followed her, wondering what she was doing when she opened his closet door and pulled out his suitcase. "What's going on? What are you doing?"
"Packing." She pulled several shirts off their hangers, folded them and put them in the suitcase she had placed on the floor.
"Yeah, I see that. Why, though?"
"Because I want you to leave."
Angel blinked in confusion. "Leave? Tomorrow's graduation, I can't just leave. Not to mention, it's Ascension day."
"Which is exactly why I want you gone," Buffy told him. "Look, the Mayor is ascending during graduation. I mean, *during* the ceremony, for all of Sunnydale High to see, and for him to munch on. And I want you as far away from here as possible when it happens."
He shook his head. "No way. I'm going to be right there with you."
"No, Angel. You can't. I want you to go someplace safe until this is all over, because I don't want you to get hurt, or worse. God, if there's a shuttle leaving for the moon in the next twelve hours, I want you on it."
"No. I won't leave. Not without you."
"I have to fight him. Destroying the Mayor isn't your job, it's mine. Just please do as I say," she begged. Buffy grabbed a pair of jeans and put them in the suitcase along with the shirts.
Angel held her by the upper arms and shook her. "I'm not leaving you here to fight him by yourself! To get hurt or worse. He could kill you, Buffy."
"That's just the price I have to pay to save the world. Again."
He forced her to sit down on the bed. "Where would that leave your family and friends? And what about me? Do you think I could stand losing you? Do you think I'd want to go on? No, I wouldn't. What's the point of me being alive if you're not?"
"Don't do this, Angel."
"Do what ? Tell you that if you die tomorrow, I'll die, too? I will."
"If you stay, you'll be killed," she told him. "I'm a Slayer, I'm expected to die young. You have an entire life ahead of you."
Gazing into her green eyes, Angel felt his heart fill with such love for her. "And I was put on this earth to be with you. That was the point of your wish, wasn't it? So we could be together? I love you, and I am not leaving you here to die."
She collapsed in the safety of his arms. "I don't want to lose you; I don't want my wish to be in vain."
"I'll be safe if I'm with you. That's the only place I would feel safe."
Angel lifted her chin and lowered his lips to hers, capturing them in a gentle kiss. He could taste the salt from her silent tears, and deepened the kiss to take her mind off the battle she would have to face the next day. His hands caressed her back, slipping under her shirt to massage the skin underneath.
Buffy pushed him away. "We shouldn't be doing this. Not now."
"Why not now?" he questioned. "Buffy, if the Mayor ascends tomorrow and there's even a remote chance one or both of us might not get through it alive, we deserve this night together. Can't we be safe in each other's arms for one more night? Is that too much to ask?"
She couldn't seem to find any plausible reason for why they couldn't spend one more night together. Angel obviously wasn't going to leave that night, no matter how much she begged him to. 'He's right,' she said to herself. 'We do deserve tonight.'
Buffy's dreams that night were plagued with troubling images. Even though she had fallen asleep, contented in her boyfriend's loving arms, she couldn't escape the things she saw in her subconscious. Terrified students, her friends being eaten and spit out by the newly demonized Mayor, Faith pointing to her and the Mayor getting to her before she could get away. The final image scared her the most: Angel standing alone amongst the carnage, too frightened to move as the Mayor descended upon him.
Somewhere in her sleeping state, she heard Willow's voice. "The only solution is the final solution."
'What?' Buffy thought. 'What final solution? What is she talking about?'
"Nuke the school?" Xander asked, though unseen in her mind's eye. "I like it."
She remembered the conversation from the previous year. It had occurred the night of the exorcism. The night Buffy's wish for Angel was granted.
Then it came to her; Willow's words made sense. She bolted upright in Angel's bed, seeing the sunlight pour through his open window. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which made her frown. "He couldn't ascend on a crappy day?" Buffy whispered.
Slowly and silently, she removed herself from Angel's embrace and crawled out of bed. The last thing she wanted to do was wake him up, especially when he was sleeping so peacefully. Her clothes were laying haphazardly on the floor -- a direct result of hers and Angel's frenziedness -- and ignoring the wrinkles, she put them on.
As she was writing him a note explaining her sudden departure, Angel awoke to an otherwise empty bed. "Buffy?" he called, half-asleep.
"Go back to sleep, Angel," she ordered.
"What are you doing? It's, like, nine o'clock."
"I know. But I have to go. And I want you to leave, too. Get all your things and get on the next bus out of Sunnydale. Promise me you'll be gone before noon."
Angel sat up and got out of bed, wrapping the blanket around his waist to sufficiently cover himself. "I already told you, I'm not going anywhere. You and I are going to fight this thing."
She bit her lip. "No. You are leaving town and *I* am going to fight this thing. With what I have in mind, it'll be entirely too dangerous."
"What is it?"
"You're better off not knowing."
Angel sighed, aggravated at his girlfriend for trying to keep him out of it. "Come on, Buffy. I'm going to hear about it anyway, so you might as well tell me. And I refuse to go anywhere until I know what you've got planned."
"I don't have all the details worked out yet," she told him. "I was going to call the gang and have them meet me in the library in forty-five minutes."
"Then I'll be there, too."
She shook her head. "No, you won't."
"If you won't let me fight, then at least let me help you prepare. I'll be gone by the time the Ascension begins," Angel promised.
Buffy relented once again. "Then you have to leave. Promise me, Angel. Promise me you'll go."
"I promise."
"Be there in forty-five minutes with your suitcase packed with enough clothes to last you a week. I'll tell you when I tell everyone else."
The gang stared at her as if she'd grown a second head after she filled them in on her plan almost an hour later. "So, am I crazy?" Buffy asked them.
Willow was the first to speak. "Well, 'crazy' is such a *strong* word."
"Let's not rule it out, though," Giles chimed in, chewing on the stem of his eyeglasses.
"You don't think it can be done?"
"I didn't say that. I might, but not yet."
Cordelia couldn't believe what Buffy was suggesting. "I, personally, don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan."
"We attack the Mayor with humus," Oz suggested, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived.
Everyone turned to look at him, giving him the same incredulous look they had given Buffy. "I stand corrected," the brunette stated.
"Just trying to keep things in perspective."
"Thank you," she replied sarcastically. "My point, however, is crazy or not, it's pretty much the only plan. Besides, it's Buffy's, and she's Slay Gal. You know, Ms. Likes-To-Fight. So…"
Xander nearly burst into laughter with her rambling. "I think there was a 'yea' vote buried in there somewhere."
"Well, I'm going to need every single one of you on board. Especially you, Xander. You're sort of the key figure here," Buffy told him.
"Key? Me?" He took a deep breath. "Okay…pride…humility…and here is the mind-numbing fear. What do I have to do?"
"Do you remember any of your military training from when you became soldier boy?" She knew for a fact that it had happened in this reality as well; Willow had told her so months beforehand.
He pointed at her, excited. "Ooh, rocket launcher?"
Buffy shook her head. "Rocket launcher not going to get it done. I mean, according to Professor Wirth's notes, it took a volcano to kill one of these things last time."
Giles walked toward her. "Um, Buffy, all of this is rather dependent on you being able to control the Mayor."
"Don't worry about it. I can handle little Richard. I just need to play on his human weakness. Everyone has one, and I can figure it out."
"What do you know about him?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "Not enough, unfortunately. I was hoping you guys could help me out with that."
Willow sheepishly raised her hand. "Well, he's not crazy about germs. When they were holding me hostage a few weeks ago, he was always cleaning things. Called germs 'nasty little things.' Don't know if that helps at all."
"Of course, that's it. We attack him with germs!" Cordelia said excitedly.
"Great!" Buffy replied. "We'll corner the giant demon and then you can sneeze on him."
"No! No, we'll get a box with the Ebola virus and…or, it doesn't even have to be real, we can just get a box that says 'Ebola' on it and, um…" She paused and snapped her fingers. "Chase him with the box."
Xander frowned. "I'm starting to lean towards the humus offensive."
"He'll never see it coming," Oz said.
"Faith. She's his human weakness," Willow told them all.
"Faith?" Buffy repeated, incredulously. "How?"
"She's his weak link. The Mayor thinks of her as a daughter. Remember how he called her 'my Faith' when he was talking to Angel? Well, that's it. She's not just one of his employees; she is the daughter he never had."
Buffy nodded. "Faith…I can work that. Now, let's get moving. There's chores for everyone."
Angel was busy sorting through the weapons when Buffy walked into Giles' office half an hour later. "How's it going?" she wanted to know.
"Good. I've sorted them out just like you told me to."
She nodded. "So I see. But this isn't going to be enough."
"Giles is on it. How are you holding up? Are you ready to fight this thing?" he asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's almost eleven-thirty, Angel. You'd better get going."
"Buffy–"
She raised her arm to interrupt him. "No. No arguing with me this time. I don't want you getting hurt and I'm not giving in to you this time, either. Go."
"I can't leave you here."
"You can and you will. Stop being so damned stubborn and do as I say for once! Grab your suitcase off the counter out there and go straight to the bus station. Do not pass Go and do not collect two hundred dollars. Just go; get as far away as you can. Please," she pleaded with him.
"You can leave with me. To hell with this town."
Buffy shook her head. "I can't. Please go."
He saw no point in arguing with her; she had her mind set. "Fine. I'll go."
As he was nearly out the door, Buffy swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. "Whatever happens today, Angel, I want you to know that I love you. Always have and I always will."
"I love you, too. G-Good luck," he choked out.
She watched as he turned the corner and out of her line of sight. Overwhelmed with emotion, she fell into Giles' chair and cried, knowing it might be the last time she'd ever see her boyfriend alive again.
At exactly three o'clock, the graduating class of 1999 walked to their seats to the sound of the band playing "Pomp and Circumstance." No sooner were they seated when Principal Snyder took the podium to address the students.
"Congratulations to the Class of 1999. You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so sit still and be quiet." He gazed the students. "Spit out that gum," the principal ordered. "Please welcome our distinguished guest speaker, Mayor Richard Wilkins the Third. I saw that gesture. You see me after graduation."
While the students clapped, Willow sat down next to Buffy. "Am I late? Do we fight?" the redhead wanted to know.
"Not yet," Buffy replied. "And why are you so late? Last minute weapons count?"
Willow shook her head. "No. Oz and I…well, we were in his van…talking and stuff."
"Really? What kind of stuff?"
"I'll tell you all about it if we survive this Ascension thing. Is Angel gone?"
"Yep. Hopefully, he's on a bus headed to San Francisco or somewhere in the desert or on his way to San Diego. As long as he's far away from here where I don't have to worry about his safety, I don't care where he is."
The Mayor cleared his throat before beginning his speech. "Well. What a day this is! Special day. Today is our centennial…the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Sunnydale. And I know what it means to all you kids – not a darn thing. Because today, something more important happens…today, you all graduate from high school. Today all the pain, all the work, all the excitement is finally over. And what's a hundred years of history compared to that? You know what, kids…"
Buffy stared, astonished. "Oh my god. He's going to do the entire speech."
"Man, just ascend already," complained Willow.
"Evil."
He continued. "…for all of you, it may be that there is a place in Sunnydale history, whether you like it or not. It's been a long road getting here. For you, for Sunnydale. There has been achievement, joy, good times…and there has been grief. There's been loss. Some people who should be here today aren't. But we are. Journey's end. And what is a journey? Is it just distance traveled? Time spent?"
The Mayor shook his head. "No. It's what happens on the way; it's the things that happen to you. At the end of the journey, you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing."
At that exact moment, all the students turned toward the sky to see the sun being blocked – a total eclipse. Buffy remembered Giles telling her it was one of the requirements for an Ascension. Back on the stage, the Mayor's face contorted in pain as his transformation began.
"And as we look back on…on the events that brought us to this day…We…we must all…" He paused his speech. "It has begun. My destiny. It's a little sooner than I expected; I had this whole section on civic pride…but I guess we'll just skip to the big finish!"
"This is it," Buffy whispered to Willow.
In front of the crowd, the Mayor's skin began to stretch and grow. His suit split in two as his human body transformed into that of a giant, scaly snake-demon. He towered over everyone there, including what seemed like every building in Sunnydale as well.
"Now!" the Slayer screamed. It was time to put her plan into action.
The students removed their caps and gowns, revealing the weapons she, Xander, Oz and Willow had told them to wear underneath. They were prepared for whatever was coming.
"Flame units!" she shouted to them. Then, she nodded to Xander, relinquishing her command to him while she focused on bringing down the Mayor.
From his seat on the stage, Principal Snyder stared in both shock and anger over what was happening. "This…this is simply unacceptable!" he yelled. "This is not orderly. This is not discipline!" The Mayor's head snapped to the left and descended upon the principal. "You're on my campus, buddy! And when I say I want quiet, I want–" He never finished the sentence, as the Mayor grabbed a hold of him and snapped his body in half with his razor sharp teeth.
The students stopped and stared, cringing at the sound of the snapping of their principal's back. "Fall back! Get back!" Buffy ordered. She then turned to her best friend. "Go."
"Good luck," Willow told her.
She nodded. "Xander, take 'em down!"
Xander removed the stake from his back pocket. "Everyone! Hand to hand! Everyone! Let's go! Move! Move!"
Once all the other students were fighting their way off the campus, Buffy looked up at the giant demon. "Hey!" she shouted, getting his attention. "Where's your little girl? Got her off killing some more poor, innocent people? 'Cause I wanna have a little talk with her about the ethics of boyfriend stealing. Maybe if you'd been a better role model, I wouldn't have to."
"Why don't you tell me yourself, B? I'm right here," Faith said, stepping out from behind the Mayor's demonic form.
Buffy took several steps closer to the school. She'd expected her sister Slayer to be there, and needed to get the Mayor into the school by using her as bait. "I was just wondering if anyone ever taught you that it isn't nice to try to steal someone else's boyfriend. I figured tall, dark and scaly over there would've told you that."
Faith, wearing a smug expression on her face, smirked. "You know, I had to beg the Mayor to let me be the one who gets to kill you. And when I do, your hot little boyfriend will be all mine. After all, he *is* irresistible."
"He wouldn't touch you, and you know it."
"Maybe not now. But given the right magicks…well, damn near anything's possible. You got him, didn't you? And it wasn't exactly the old-fashioned way, if I recall."
"I won't let it happen You and your boss are going down."
"Who's gonna stop me? You and what army?"
Buffy shook her head. "I don't need an army, Faith. I can beat you all by myself."
From her back pocket, the other Slayer pulled out the dagger she had received as a gift several weeks earlier. "Bring it on. I'm ready."
Buffy decided to let Faith make the first move. The Mayor wasn't really paying attention; he was busy shooting fire at the fleeing students. And she was glad for that; she needed Faith out of the way before she could finish off the Mayor. It increased her odds if he was busy with something else.
She didn't make Buffy wait very long. It only took ten seconds for Faith to come at her with a roundhouse kick to the face. Buffy backed up in order to avoid being struck, then ducked down to avoid a quickly thrown punch, only to strike back by swinging her leg out and connecting it with Faith's ankles. She fell on her backside, but jumped back to her feet.
With her dagger raised, Faith grinned. "This is a fight to the death, B. Hope you're ready to face the consequences."
"Then I hope you are, too."
"No regrets. Want, take, have. That's my motto. Remember that when I'm cutting into you."
She didn't waste any precious time. Faith swung the knife at Buffy, slashing her left arm, leaving behind a thin red line of blood. Ignoring the searing pain, Buffy attacked her, attempting to get the knife away from her. What ensued was a tug of war, pitting Slayer against Slayer in an ugly battle which only one could possibly survive. Buffy managed to wrestle the knife into her grasp, pointed at her enemy's stomach, though Faith still held it firmly.
"You can't do it. You can't kill me," she stated.
"You can't do it," Angelus said, water dripping down his handsome face. "You can't kill me." 'Not while I still look like her precious Angel,' he thought.
Without a second's hesitation, Buffy lifted her knee and forcefully connected it with his groin. The vampire fell to the ground in pain. "Give me time."
Her words brought back memories of the days after her seventeenth birthday. Only this time, she didn't need time. "Says who?" she retorted. Using all of her strength, she pushed the knife into Faith's stomach, watching the look of shock appear on her face.
"You kill me, you become me," Faith told her, repeating her words from over a month earlier.
She removed the dagger, letting the brunette fall to the ground. "I'll never be like you. I don't have enough rage."
Leaving her there, Buffy walked over to where the Mayor was standing, destroying what had been the campus quad. "Hey!" she shouted, holding up the knife she had taken from the now-unconscious Slayer. "You remember this? I took it from Faith. Stuck it in her gut. Just slid in her like she was butter. You want to get it back from me, Dick?"
'This better work,' she prayed as she took off toward the school. She opened the door and ran through the halls as fast as she could, hearing the Mayor break down the door in pursuit. Staying focused on her mission, Buffy bolted into the library, vaulted over the railing to the second floor, and turned around in time to see the Mayor enter. 'It's now or never.' Making her way through the stacks, she jumped out the window into the courtyard.
When she reached Giles, she nodded to him and he did the same, pushing down the lever. It set off a series of explosions, beginning in the library and making their way throughout the entire school. All the students looked up, and the Slayer and her Watcher turned to each other. It was done. They had defeated him.
"You alright?" Giles asked Buffy half an hour later. People milled around them and dozens of emergency vehicles were parked in the parking lot, tending to the blaze inside the school and the injured students.
She smiled slightly. "I'm tired."
"I should imagine so. It's been quite a couple days."
"I haven't processed everything yet," she admitted. "My brain isn't really functioning on the higher levels. It's pretty much 'fire bad, tree pretty.'"
"Understandable. Well, when it's working again, congratulate it on a good campaign. You did very well."
Buffy nodded. "Thanks. I will."
Giles took off his glasses, preparing to give her some news. He'd been sworn to secrecy, but he felt it was time to tell her. "Buffy, there's something I need to tell you. It's about–"
She didn't hear a word he'd said. While her eyes had been scanning the parking lot, she saw someone standing between two fire trucks, staring at her. "Angel." Walking away from her Watcher, she made her way to where her boyfriend was standing. "What are you doing here?" Buffy wanted to know. "I told you to leave."
"I couldn't," Angel told her. "It would have been like abandoning you, and I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I made Giles promise not to tell you until this was all over."
"I can't believe it."
"You'd better. Me and a bunch of guys from the baseball team stood outside the main entrance and fought some of the vamps."
She shook her head at him. "You could have been killed."
"But I wasn't. I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere. Ever." Angel paused, noticing the wound on Buffy's arm. "Oh my god, Buffy. Are you okay? What happened to your arm?" He reached out to touch it.
"Ran into Faith. Before I took her out, she decided to introduce me to her nice, new dagger." She processed what her boyfriend had just said to her. "What did you say? You're not leaving?"
"Nope," he said. "I'm in Sunnydale for good. Wild horses couldn't drag me away now."
She was confused. "What about Cornell? Great medical school, scholarship, moving back to New York?"
Angel shrugged his shoulders. "Snow is overrated. I checked out UC Sunnydale, and the Pre-Med Department there isn't half-bad. Besides, I couldn't stand the idea of being three thousand miles away from the girl I'm gonna marry someday."
"What?" she asked, not sure she had heard him correctly.
"Well, I don't exactly have a ring, but I figure when everything settles down, we could go shopping for one. That is, if you want to. Or, whenever you're ready."
She couldn't believe what he was saying. "Of course it's what I want! I've never wanted anything more."
Angel bent down to kiss her lovingly. When their embrace ended moments later, he surveyed the damage caused by the explosion. "Nice job," he commented. "Don't you wish–"
"No! No more wishing. One wish every lifetime is enough for me," Buffy replied. "I'm not going to press my luck anymore. I already have my heart's desire, there's nothing else I need or would want to wish for."
He put his arms around her. "Me, either. I love you."
She rested her head against his arm. "I love you, too, my Angel."
As they walked away from the school, Buffy bid farewell to the past. And with it, she silently said a final goodbye to the souled vampire she fell in love with. Though she would never forget him, she could no longer dwell on the past, or live in it. Not with the future she had in front of her. A future with the man she loved now.
'Goodbye, Angel. I'll never forget.'
The End