What A Tangled Web We Weave: Saying Goodbye
by SpikeandAngelsgurl
Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters except Trinity, and Landon. Lyrics are The Wallflowers-One Headlight

"So long ago, I don't remember when
That's when they say I lost my only friend
Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
As I listened through the cemetery trees..."

Trinity plunged her stake through the vampire in front of her, then tossed it to Spike who did the same, as she kicked another one in the gut. The hellmouth was swarming with all sorts of nasties, as usual. Tonight, a particularly vicious clan of vamps had decided to open it. Trinity did a back flip and stepping back on her heel, swiveled and kicked a vampire onto the point of Fred's stake. Fred smiled at her gratefully and tossed the stake to Trinity, then picked up a crossbow and ran to help Xander with the vamps he was fighting. Trinity moved with grace, spinning, ducking, and thrusting until there were only two vampires left in the room-Spike and Landon. "Can't we kill them too?" Xander whined and Gunn slugged him. Landon still wasn't talking to her. He talked to Spike, and Willow, Lorne, Gunn, Wes, Fred, even Xander. Everyone but her. Willow kept telling her to give him time. Spike kept saying that he didn't really blame her, that he was just using her as an outlet for his guilt. Trinity though that it was all bullshit. But she didn't know what she could do other than wait. She'd give him until tomorrow she decided. Then they were going to talk, whether he liked it or not.

"I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
The long broken arm of human law
Now it always seemed such a waste
She always had a pretty face
So I wondered how she hung around this place..."


Angelus had basically disappeared off planet Corvallis. He surfaced now and again, leaving some sort of sign that he was still there, and watching. Usually the body of someone Trinity knew, or cared for. They were still trying to figure out what his deal was. According to Wes and Spike, laying low wasn't exactly an Angelus-like thing to do. Especially when their was someone around worth torturing and maiming, like say, a slayer. Yet he was laying low. So, they had decided, Angelus was up to something far more deadly than his usual torture, murder and mayhem. But they just couldn't figure out what. "It's gotta be an apocalypsy thing. He's planning an apocalypse." Willow said thoughtfully, as they sat 'round the dinner table that night. "Not bloody likely Red. Angelus doesn't do apocalypses." Spike said. Xander snorted. "Need I remind you about a certain statuey demon who Angle was going to use to suck the world into hell?" he asked. "What!" Trinity exclaimed, confused. "The first time Angel lost his soul he used his blood to awaken Acathla, a demon whose mouth would open to suck the world into a hell dimension. Buffy killed Angel before he could do so." Wesley clarified. "Aaah. So you think he's laying low so he can carry out some new apocalyptic plan?" Trinity asked. Wesley nodded. As they talked Landon stood outside the kitchen door, listening. And then he left, disappearing into the night.

"Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella
We put it all together We can drive it home
With one headlight..."

"So they don't suspect a thing?" Angelus asked his childe, after they'd finished feeding. "Not at all. They think I'm all souled and redemption-seeking." Landon replied with a smirk. "Then the charm worked?" Angelus asked. Landon nodded. "Not even Willow's magick could penetrate it." Angelus smiled. "Good. So what are they up to?" he asked, getting straight to the point. "They know you're planning an apocalypse. They just don't know how or why." Landon answered. "Good. Keep it that way. I need you to distract them. Show them some clues that make it seem as if I've left town, and don't let them anywhere near the hellmouth when the time comes." Angelus hissed, and he dismissed Landon. Then lay in his bed, smiling to himself, one arm wrapped tightly around the body of the blond next to him. Everything was going exactly as planned. The idiots had no idea that he was planning on opening the Hellmouth to bring back the old ones, hell, they hadn't even figured out that he'd turned Buffy, and that the body they'd found belonged to some random blond girl he'd found and killed off the street. And they wouldn't until it was too late.

"She said it's cold
It feels like Independence Day
And I can't break away from this parade
But there's got to be an opening
Somewhere here in front of me
Through this maze of ugliness and greed
And I seen the sign up ahead
At the county line bridge
Sayin' all there's good and nothingness is dead
We'll run until she's out of breath
She ran until there's nothin' left
She hit the end it's just her window ledge..."


Trinity was waiting for him when he returned. "Where have you been?" she asked softly. "Out." Landon answered coldly. He knew that he should make it seem as if he was warming up to her, for appearances sake, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He hated her, and as good an actor as he was, he couldn't make himself act as if he loved someone he despised. "Out doing what?" she asked. "What does it matter?" he asked. "You don't own me. I don't take orders from you. You're nothing to me, but, if you must know, I was out looking for Angelus." he answered. "Really? And what did you find?" Trinity asked. "Nothing. Not a damned thing. My sires left town Trinity. Just like I'm going to do." Landon answered as he pulled out a suitcase and started tossing what few possessions he had into it. "What do you mean? You can't just leave Landon. Not until we work this out." Trinity said. "Work what out Trinity? There's nothing to work out. We're over. We've been over a long time. The second I woke up with fangs, any chance we had of being together faded away. Giving me back my soul doesn't change a thing. If you'd wanted to save me, you should have killed me." Landon said, shutting the suitcase. "I can't accept that." Trinity said, as Landon changed his shirt. Willow chose to enter at that moment, and she saw it. The almost inconspicuous pendant around his neck that she recognized at once as a pendant to ward off magick. And she knew. "Trin, can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked the young slayer. "Nows really not a good time Willow." Trinity replied. "It's an emergency. Of the evil vampiric kind." Willow said, being careful not to look in Landon's direction. If he knew what she knew, who knew what he would do. Trinity sighted. "We'll talk about this later." she said to Landon, who rolled his eyes as she followed Willow to the witches room down the hall. "What is it Willow?" she asked. "It's Landon. He's still an evil blood sucking fiend." Willow answered, getting straight to the point. "What!" Trinity exclaimed. "The pendant he's wearing. It prevents any type of magick from touching him. Angelus must have known that you would try to give Landon his soul, and sent him in as a spy." Willow told her. "Shit." Trinity said, as she ran towards Landon's room. When she got there, he was was already gone.

"Hey, come on try a little
Nothing is forever
There's got to be something better than
In the middle
But me & Cinderella
We put it all together We can drive it home
With one headlight..."

Trinity hated the sewers. But if she had to travel through every single one in Oregon, she'd find Landon and kill him. Maybe he hadn't intended to, but all those self-sacrificing speeches about how she should have killed him, instead of trying to save him when it was too late had made her realize that he was right. Trinity owed it to Landon to put a take through the heart of the demon inside of him. The sun was setting, Trinity realized. She'd been at it all day, searching the sewers, the where houses, every dark, dank and vampiric hiding place in the city. She hadn't found a sign of Landon anywhere, yet she knew he hadn't left town yet. She didn't know how she knew; she could just sense his presence somewhere in the city. Trinity climbed out of the sewer and found herself in a park near her old dorms. And she felt him. "Looking for somebody?" Landon asked. "You could say that." Trinity's aid as she got into a fighting stance. "How come you didn't leave town?" she asked. "I was getting ready to, but you know, pesky daylight and all. Then I saw you. I couldn't resist getting m goodbye kiss." Trinity punched him hard in the face. "Kiss." she said. Landon punched her back, and Trinity bended backwards doing a pretty graceless back flip, before somersaulting towards him and kicking him in the jaw. Landon head butted her and she fell backwards, but got right back up delivering a spinning kick to Landon that had him flying. Landon landed on the slide and got back up, rubbing his head face morphing. "Ouch Trini. That kinda hurt." he said, as he rushed towards her delivering a hurricane kick that sent her flying. His father had trained Landon in the martial arts as soon as he could walk. He was no normal baby vampire. Landon was behind her when she got up, and he kicked her in the gut, sending her to her knees. "Come on now Trinity. Is that all you got-you, the all mighty vampire slayer and killer of demons, and me, a lowly vampire not even a year old." Landon smirked as he punched Trinity in the face. Trinity was already wore out, having come face to face with more than a few vamps while touring the sewers, and Landons beating was taking more than the usual toll out on her. Trinity gathered her strength, and grabbed Landon by the ankles, pulling him down. His head connected with the slide, and Trinity drug herself up and pulled him off of it. She did a back flip, and Landon followed. They stood face to face and Trinity struck with a flurry of lighting fast kicks and punches. He delivered a kick to his gut that had him falling to the ground, gasping for unneeded air. She jumped him, straddling his chest and pinning his hands above his head. "Goodbye my love." she said softly, kissing Landon gently in the lips before plunging her stake through his heart. Trinity stood up, dusting what was left of the only man she’d ever loved off of her, and she wept.



"Well this place is old
It feels just like a beat up truck
I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
Well it smells of cheap wine and cigarettes
This place is always such a mess
Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn
I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else
Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same
But somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
I think her death it must be killin' me..."


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