Come to Dust: Part One
by Erana Zeitler
"She's a WHAT?" Xander shouted, jumping from his chair in shock. "You're kidding, right? Please, say you're kidding!" He looked at Angel, who didn't seem to hear him, didn't even seem to be aware of him. Xander was slightly surprised he still looked human, he'd thought all vamps vamped out at the slightest emotional provocationn. "This can't be true! It can't be! Can it? Giles?"

Giles seemed to be in a state of shock. "Are you certain?" he asked the unhearing Angel, and then shook his head. "Of course you are. Oh, my."

"Oh, my? That's all you can say? We have to do something! Isn't there some way we can change her back or something?"

Angel finally looked up, tears still falling down his face. "There's no way to change it," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion.

"There has to be!"

"There isn't!" Angel growled. "You don't think I've searched for a way for all these years? There's nothing to be done, she's as good as dead! She's *worse* than dead . . . " The anger drained out of Angel's voice and he laid his head on his hands, sinking back into a deep depression.

Willow, meanwhile, had remained silent throughout Angel's shocking pronouncement. Finally, she spoke up. "Shouldn't she be immune to it, though? I mean, she is the Slayer . . . shouldn't that prevent something like this from happening?"

Giles shook his head. "Her being the Slayer does nothing to protect her. She is like all vampires now. A demon with the slayer's face," Giles' voice was grim.

Xander began to pace. He'd thought for sure Angel was being melodramatic, now he wished Angel had been more dramatic, dragged the moment out even more. He would have been happier not knowing, a thousand times happier. "What . . . what about the curse thing?" he siad, turning towards Angel. "Couldn't we do that on Buffy?"

Angel rose, apparently furious at the very thought. "Absolutely not! She'd prefer death! Do you have any idea the weight of a conscience on a a vampire . . . "

Xander interrupted, "We have to do *something*! We can't just let this happen!"

"It's *already* hapened," Angel hissed. "It's over, it's finished. No last minute save, nothing. Buffy . . . is . . . a vampire. Do you understand that? She's GONE! She's DEAD! There's nothing left of her but a shell with a demon inside. There's nothing to be *done*!" Angel was shaking by this point, and sank back into the chair. "There's nothing to be done," he repeated, more tears falling down his face.

"It can't be!" Xander protested. "It's not FAIR! There has to be some way we can help her, we've always been able to help her! Isn't there a prophecy, some way . . . anyway to stop this? Giles, consult your books, do SOMETHING besides just sit there!"

Giles looked at him. "It's one of the risks she accepted when she acccepted her birthright," he recited mechanically. "Now the new slayer, Kendra, must be called, and she will have to take care of Buffy."

"She's not just another vampire!" Xander shouted, close to tears himself. "She's BUFFY!"

"No, she's not," Angel replied. "She is another vampire, that's . . . that's exactly what she is."

"Willow?" Xander turned to his longtime friend for support, but she seemed shocked, looking at Angel and knowing from his distress that every word he spoke was true.

"Buffy's dead, Xander," she said, looking up at him.

"No! No! I don't accept that! It's too fast, it's happening to fast! We need time, we have to stop this, there has to be something we can do! SOMETHING! I'm not just going to sit by and wait while Buffy goes on an all you can eat vamp fest! We have to STOP her! Bring her back here, look through books, there must be some WAY around tihs! This isn't IT! I refuse to believe that!"

Angel looked at Xander, the expression on his face showing how much he wanted to believe Xander, believe that there was a way around it. But he was also more practical. "Believe it, Xander," he said, not without sympathy. "There's no way around it, no cure . . . nothing . . . she needs to be taken care of . . . she needs to be . . . "

"Killed?" Xander shrieked. "Absolutely NOT! We've gotta find a way around this! She's done to much, she killed the Master, she saved you from that Druscilla reviving cross ritual thingy, she saved me from not one, but TWO psychotic women, she saved Giles from that Mark of Igon thing . . . who'd have thought she could do so much, huh? Well, guess what, it's payback time! I will NOT accept that she is dead until we have done EVERYTHING we can to stop it! It's not over yet, goddamn it! I won't let it be! I won't LET it!"

"You . . . you're right," Giles stammered, looking at him with some small measure of hope growing behind his eyes. "Maybe there is something we can do. I'll . . . I'll go consult my books."

"I'll help," Willow said, standing and following him.

Xander blinked, they were taking orders from him? When had that happened?

He looked towards Angel, who didn't seem to have been in the least inspired by Xander's speech, but still sat there, silently crying. "Angel?" Xander asked, slowly.

He looked up.

"Go try to find Buffy. I know . . . I know there doesn't seem to be any hope, but we have to try. For her sake, we have to try."

Angel shuddered and stood slowly. "I'll . . . find her and bring her somewhere safe, where she can't hurt anyone," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. Obviously he wasn't very hopeful.

"Why can't you try and believe?" Xander asked. "For Buffy, we have to try. She's done so much, we can't just give up on her. There has to be a way around this, and we are GOING to find it."

Angel smiled sadly, his smile so haunted it sent a chill up Xander's spine. "I've tried to find a cure, Xander, for more years than your grandparents have been alive . . . there is none." He swallowed. "It's over." Without another word he left the library. Xander watched him go and sat down in the chair he'd been in. Angel was probably right, there probably was no cure. But no matter what, he had to try. He owed Buffy that much. He owed Buffy a lot more than that.


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