Two of a kind: Chapter 8
by i_hate_mornings
Disclaimer: i own nothing to do with Buffy or Angel, just this story.


Previously on: Two of a kind…

‘Riley,’ Buffy pleaded, not sure if he could hear her or not. 'It wasn’t him. It was a different him; his alter ego, Angelus. Angelus is evil, not Angel.’ She watched with a small amount of relief as his hold wavered. She was getting through to him.

‘Buffy!’ Willow burst excitedly through the door.

Bang!

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Chapter 8

Nobody moved. Not a muscle twitched, no air was indrawn, no word spoken. Minds, however, were a different thing. Where did the bullet go? Angel thought frantically. Who was hit? The gun, still in Riley’s hand, was pointed in a direction Angel couldn’t bring his gaze to follow.

The shock was enormous. Slowly, Angel felt the feeling return to his numb body and he was able to force it to move. The first person he saw was Willow, who stood immediately in the doorway of the kitchen, eyes wide in shock, stare fixed on the gun in Riley’s hand.

He dismissed her quickly and kept turning in what felt like slow motion. Buffy stood protectively in front of Xander, her body covering much of his. Neither looked hurt. He relaxed. No one was hurt.

He whirled on Riley, rage quickly burning in his system, lighting his eyes and inciting his wrath. The ex-commando had almost killed his beloved. He had almost shot her and her friends. This was unacceptable. He snapped, jumping the stunned farm boy, mind set on pounding him into the ground.

Buffy began to scream at him but he took no notice, delighting in the feel of the soldiers face as it split under his fist. His hand turned red with blood, his own and Riley’s, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t. The rage held him in place; it consumed him until he didn’t recognize himself. He was just a thing, an instrument, not his own person.

Buffy continued to scream, parts of her hysterics finally breaking through the fog that held him. ‘Willow!’ she called tearfully. Angel, fist pulled back for a disabling blow, froze.

He turned slowly and took in the scene behind him. Willow lay inert on the floor, Buffy and Xander huddled around her. Buffy’s hand was pressed tightly to the redhead’s side. He leapt up from the unconscious soldier, intent on seeing to his beloved’s friend. He pushed the other two gently aside and examined the witch. The bullet had only grazed her side, leaving a shallow rut in her skin. A few stitches and she’d be as good as knew. He said as much to her worried friends.

Buffy sagged with relief. ‘Oh, God…’ she clasped her head in her hands. ‘She could have…’

‘Yeah,’ Xander echoed her sentiments. A light hit his eyes and Angel just knew Xander had it his head to do something stupid. The boy looked towards the motionless soldier and stood up.

‘Harris,’ Angel warned but Buffy put a small hand on his arm, holding him back. Instead, they waited, watching to see what the boy would do.

He stood over Riley, just looking. There was no anger on his face, no wish for revenge, just a deep, regret. Angel knew that feeling all too well. It was terrible when the things that could have been avoided came to pass.

Xander lifted a leg and kicked the ex-commando. Satisfied, he returned to the group.

‘She needs to go to the hospital,’ Angel said softly, moving away to give Xander room. He nodded and picked up his lifelong friend. He left quickly, leaving Buffy and Angel to deal with the downed ex-friend.

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‘How could he…’ Buffy stared hard at her supposed boyfriend; the boyfriend who had just shot her best friend. Oh yeah, their relationship was SO over… ‘He’s is going to pay for this. Just wait until he wakes up…’ she muttered the threat to no one in particular.

Angel knelt beside her, draping an arm comfortingly around her stiff shoulders. She relaxed into his touch- something she’d never truly been able to do with Riley- and she knew she was home. This was what she needed, what she craved, and this time, she wasn’t letting go. Curse or no.

‘Buffy, Willow’s going to be fine. The wound will heal in few days and she’ll be fine. Just needs a few stitches is all,’ Angel rubbed his hand along her arm, warming the chilled skin. Buffy marveled at the warm touch.

‘She was shot, Angel. She’s not going to be fine,’ Buffy argued rightly. Willow would not be fine. She was shot. She looked over at Riley again and grimaced at the sight of his beaten face. Angel had really pulled all the punches, pun intended. The big guy himself, however, did not look happy.

‘Angel?’ she questioned the serious faced ex-vamp. He was staring at the ex-commando’s mangled face, regret already darkening his features.

‘I lost control, he murmured. ‘I couldn’t stop myself. It all came out; the rage, it was overwhelming. I couldn’t stop…’ he repeated and Buffy grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

‘Angel, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay,’ she twisted around as far as he would let her and cupped his face in her hands. ‘It’s gonna be okay. We’ll deal.’

‘I shouldn’t have done that, but he could have hurt you, he could have shot you,’ he almost whispered, not taking his eyes off the body.

Riley started to moan and Buffy instantly removed herself from her former lover’s arms, going instead to check on her boyfriend. He cracked a swollen eye open as she approached and she felt no sympathy for him. He had brought a gun into her home, pointed at the man she love and shot her best friend.

‘Riley, we’re over,’ Buffy stood over him. He hung is head in acceptance. ‘You come near my house or friends again, I’ll do to you what I did to your team.’

Buffy almost laughed as she thought about that. She’d taken out him and his team in forty-seven seconds. Walsh had been impressed. Until she’d gone all “Let’s kill Buffy”. She walked away from her ex-boyfriend and returned to Angel. Before he had the chance to take her in his arms, she spotted a pile of papers on the ground, obviously dropped by Willow. She picked them up and read over them briefly.

‘We need to go see Giles.’

**********************

‘Wait, just let me process this. You’re saying Toth got Angel as well as Xander?’ Buffy, Angel and Giles were in Magic Box, the Watcher pouring over notes from the books on the table. None of it related to Toth.

‘That is precisely what we are saying. I’m a little fuzzy on the details myself, but the gist is, Toth somehow was able to zap Angel with the rod, and as a consequence, he, and the two forms of Angel, were inadvertently transported here, to Sunnydale.’

What I am also unsure of, is whether Toth’s intention was to come to Sunnydale at all. Yes, he did target Buffy, but that may have just been making the best of a bad situation.’

‘Ugh,’ Buffy rubbed her forehead vigorously. She was still out in the blue. Angel’s attempts to “dumb it down” weren’t helping in the slightest.

‘Buffy,’ Giles took a seat in front of her. ‘What I am saying is that Toth may have meant to come to Sunnydale, he just didn’t count on bringing the other two with him.’

‘Oh,’ Buffy got it now. Why couldn’t he have said it like that in the first place? ‘Why couldn’t you have said it like that in the first place, Giles? You would have saved yourself from a very confused Buffy.’

‘Do you…’

‘Yeah,’ she waved a hand airily. ‘I get it. Makes sense. So, how do we fix it?’

‘You don’t.’

The three turned to face the newcomer.

‘Hello lover.’






How was this chap? I got inspired the other day and wrote two full chaps of the HP crossover. Not much on the others, though..
They'll be coming soon, hopefully.

Leave me reviews, please.


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