Angel laid the book down on the night stand and looked around the room. He and Doyle had taken up residence in Giles's condo now. Their plan was that they were going to take out Buffy, Xander and Willow and head back to Los Angeles. At first, Angel had wanted to stay, to make sure that Sunnydale had a protector, but Doyle had pointed out that Angel was Los Angeles's protector. Angel couldn't argue with The Powers That Be, so he was going to head back to L.A. when this was all over.
Buffy was dead. Angel realized that, and also that it wasn't his fault. That made him feel not guilty, but it made it hurt worse. He missed her so much. This was nothing compared to missing her every day when he had left; at least then he had the secure knowledge that she was alive and well. Now, well that was a different story. He didn't have the hope that someday he could be with her as they both wanted, and that hurt him so much.
He settled into bed, feeling tired as dawn approached. He closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.
"Angel, Angel." The voice was soft as a whisper. He looked up to see Buffy standing before him, dressed in casual jeans and a burgundy tank top. He sat up, ready to fight. Then he noticed the glowing white aura clinging to her.
"Buffy?" he asked, unsure of what was going on.
She sat down beside him and answered, "Yeah, it's me. Really me."
Angel looked down and said, "I'm dreaming."
She nodded and clarified for him, "Sort of. Your body's asleep right now, but I'm here talking to you."
Angel looked into her eyes and asked, "How did you get here?"
Buffy reached out and took his hand. He let her. Her green eyes were so sad and regretful. "I needed to talk to you," she answered, "And I needed to tell you good bye."
Good byes were final. That's why he had left Sunnydale without telling her good bye. He knew that their story was not over yet. Now it was, because of some bastard of a vampire.
He felt her hand caress his face, wiping away a tear that had fallen unnoticed. He turned to her hand and took it. He opened his eyes and asked, "Who killed you?"
She sadly smiled and answered, "Some guy that I knew in high school. He had this crush on me. He didn't know I was the Slayer, and he surprised me." She chuckled and added, "The first thing that *she* did when she woke up was kill the dork."
So that part of the vampiric Buffy killing her sire was true. "I'm sorry," he told her.
She laughed bitterly, "Not as sorry as I am. I'm seeing this *monster* with my face killing my friends and trying to hurt you."
"I can take care of myself," Angel told her.
"Angel, I want you to make me a promise," she said.
He looked into the depths of her green eyes. There was so much turbulent emotion there. He whispered, "Anything, just name it."
"Kill her. Steak her bitchy ass to the ground. Chop her into little pieces if you have to. I don't care, I just want her dead," she strongly told him.
He simply told her, "Done."
Then she sniffled. Her soul was crying. Angel reached for her as she reached for him. He held her tightly, never wanting to let her go, but knowing that he had to. She told him, "I understand."
He nodded as he rocked her gently. He knew what she was talking about. She finally understood why he had left, and that comforted him just a bit. He kissed her hair and told her, "I love you."
"I love you," she replied as she clutched at his shoulders. He held her tighter, memorizing the curves of her body, the feel of her, how she smelled, her true warmth, everything that he could. "I don't want to leave," she told him.
He replied, "I don't want you to either."
She pulled back slightly and they looked into each other's eyes. She reached out and stroked his face, he closed his eyes and breathed her in. Then she leaned up and kissed him. He held her tightly as he kissed her back . . .
Angel awoke just before sundown, reaching for his beloved. Then he remembered that it had been a dream, all of it. The vampire had never felt so alone in his long life. He just stared up at the ceiling, at the crystals that Giles had previously hung there.
The crystals were of Chinese origan, and they represented good luck and life. Maybe all of Giles's sorcerer habits hadn't burned out when he had became a Watcher. Angel reached up and brushed the crystals with his fingers.
Steel coiled within his resolve. He had made a promise to Buffy, and he'd be damned again before he would fail her. He rose up from the bed and got ready to go out.
"I'm gonna go with `ya Boyle, and there is nothing you're gonna do about it," Doyle told Angel. Angel looked down at his demon friend who had risen to his full height, which wasn't that much. Anger and resolve sharpened his blue eyes as he looked at Angel.
"The bastard killed Cordelia, and he's gonna pay," Doyle told him sharply.
Angel shook his head and replied, "No, Xander's *mine*." It was a personal issue, and he was also getting revenge for Cordelia and all the times Xander had taunted him. Besides, it would only be fitting if "Dead Boy" was the one to chop his goofy looking head off, or slam a steak into his heart. Either way, Xander was going to die, tonight.
Doyle didn't back down. He went up to Angel's face and told him, "He is *mine*."
Then Angel saw it. What Doyle had felt for Cordelia wasn't strictly lust, but he also cared for her as well. Cordelia had proved to be a true friend to the end, which happened to be very short. She was meant for more, as were they all. Angel relented, "If you can take him."
Doyle took his crossbow and replied, "Oh, I can take the bastard."
Angel tilted his head to the door and said, "Well, lets go then."
Willow was hunting, totally unaware that there were two hunting her at the same moment. She was thinking about what had been happening with Buffy and Angel. She could still practice her craft, except now she could do the darker things that she had secretly wanted to do. Maybe she could find a spell that could turn Angel to their side.
She almost giggled as a line from "Star Wars" formed in her brain. Then that thought passed as she saw her dinner: Pacey was back in town, alone. She licked her lips and straitened out her leather bodice.
She walked toward him. Then, suddenly, two figures stepped from the shadows. Willow didn't have any time to scream as Angel steaked her through the heart.
Willow's ashes swirled around Angel and Doyle. It had hurt Angel to do that to Willow. She was always the nicest to him, backing him up when the others had turned. Doyle said, "One down, two to go."
Angel placed the steak back in its device and looked down at the ash below him. He then looked into his friend's eyes and said, "Yeah, well, lets get to it."
They separated. Angel was searching for Buffy, and Doyle was looking for Xander.
Doyle had found the wanker. Xander smiled at him and quipped in that annoying voice of his, "Well, if it isn't the little gimp. Ready to get your ass kicked again, Demon Boy?"
Doyle lined up the crossbow and said, "I have no idea what Cordelia saw in you."
Xander smiled and taunted him, "She was a great kisser, but I bet you never got that far, did you? No, even Cordy doesn't date demons, shorty."
Doyle was pissed, he felt his face change. He pointed his crossbow and shot. Xander dodged the arrow, and it was lodged into a board in the ally. Xander rushed at him and smacked the crossbow away from his hands.
Doyle punched him and head butted him in the stomach. Xander grabbed him and lifted Doyle above his head. Doyle struggled as Xander tossed him into some garbage cans. Metal rattled as they collapsed on top of Doyle, and the scent of garbage wavered through his nostrils before he blacked out.
Xander smiled and grabbed the crossbow. He dug through the trash and fount Doyle. He aimed the crossbow to his heart. "Alexander Harris." Xander spun around to see Angel standing there, holding two swords in his hands.
Xander was puzzled by that, why hold two swords? Angel went on, "Back when I was alive duels were challenged between rivals."
"So what Dead Boy, you challenging me to a duel?" Xander quipped.
"Do you accept?" was Angel's cryptic answer.
Xander smiled and replied, "Hell yeah."
Angel grinned, which was weird coming from Angel because he never grinned. He tossed a sword to Xander and told him, "En garde`"
Xander picked up the sword and swung. Angel attacked without warning. Xander, some how, managed to block the larger vampire's blow. Angel came at him again fiercely. This time, Xander swerved out of the way. Xander slipped into Vamp Face and snarled at Angel.
He swung at Angel, only to have his blow artfully blocked and parried by the vampire. The last thing that Xander saw was the sword's silvery blade coming toward his neck, and the last thing he heard was Angel's voice saying, "Wrong move, boy."
Xander's head fell to the ground before it along with the rest of his body crumbled into ash. Angel looked down at the ash and shook his head. Idiot, even in death. Doyle stood up, a banana peal clinging to his black hair.
"The bastard kicked my ass again," Doyle snapped.
Angel grinned and replied, "Well, you know."
Doyle shook his head in disbelief as he asked, "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"
Angel allowed himself just a small smile and answered, "Just a bit."
"Serves him right," Doyle said as he picked the banana peal from his hair.
Angel turned grim. Now was the time to go after Buffy. He looked at Doyle as he handed his swords to him. He said, "Go back to Giles's place. I've gotta do this part alone."
Doyle nodded and asked, "Can you handle it?"
Angel looked out of the ally and answered, "I have to." Then he swept out of the ally, leaving the demon alone.
Angel had been sitting on the grave for about fifteen minutes when Buffy showed up. Or rather, the demon wearing her face did. He stood up from the grave and looked at her. She crossed her arms and glared furiously up at him.
"This is it," he told her.
She replied, "But I don't want it to be it. It's not over before I say it's over."
Angel shrugged and said, "That's tough. This is *it*."
Then he threw the first punch. It contacted with her jaw, snapping her head back. She recovered with a growl and threw as snap kick at his jaw. He caught her leg and snapped it to the ground. She sent a vicious back hand to his face.
Seeing the moment's advantage, she whaled up on him. Angel lost counts of the kicks and punches as she used him like a punching bag. He fell to the soft round. His face morphed in anger. He shook it off; he wanted to be wearing his human face when he killed her.
He sprang up, grabbed her around her slender waist, and flipped her over his shoulder. He spun around and grabbed her by her long hair. He spun with her for a moment and slung her into a grave. Her grave. She looked at it and snarled.
Angel finally saw the face of a demon. Her eyes glowed golden, her delicate features were sculpted into something hedious, and fangs gleamed in her soft, perfect mouth. They rushed at each other.
Her arms locked around his waist, and his around her neck. They tried to flip each other to the ground, but ended up falling in a tangle of limbs. Angel pushed her off of him and stood up. She desperately swung her legs under his, sweeping them out from underneath him.
He fell to the ground with a soft thud. She was on top of him, her hands around his throat. Her finger nails were being driven in his throat as she squeezed tightly. Angel fumbled for his steak, it was jammed into the device.
Then suddenly, immposibaly, she arched back and cried out before she exploded into a cloud of ash on top of Angel. Angel pulled himself up to see, also impossibly, Spike.
Spike stood above him and took a cigarette and a lighter from his leather duster. He causally lit it and took a drag. Angel looked to see a steak by his foot, then looked up at Spike. Spike said, "One should never sire a bloody Slayer, it bloody never turns out good."
With that, the fledging flicked the cigarette into the ground and walked away from Angel. Angel was stunned. He couldn't believe it. Spike, of all people had steaked Buffy. Spike. SPIKE!
Angel growled as he stood up. He ran to catch up with the white-haired vampire. He grabbed Spike around the shoulder and spun him around. He snapped, "Why the hell did you do that?"
Spike shrugged and said, "It was wrong. A Slayer becoming a vampire. So I fixed the bloody mistake." With that, Spike shook himself out of the shocked Angel's grasp.
Angel stood there stunned as the other vampire walked away. "Oh hell," Angel grumbled as he sank to the ground in utter exhaustion.
Spike turned to him and called out, "Go back to L.A. and keep playing the vamp detective. You're bloody good at that, you know. Just get out of Sunnyhell. Trust me. It's not a safe place to be a vampire. And watch out for bloody commandos!"
Angel looked up as Spike left. It was over, all over, and there was nothing left for Angel in Sunnydale. Nothing at all.
Epilogue A Year Later.
Angel placed the dozen white roses on Buffy's grave, then a white rose each on Cordelia, Giles, Xander, Willow, and Oz's graves. He bent down and traced his fingers on each of their names, remembering. They were not going to be forgotten, he was going to make sure of that.
He knelt down, kissed his fingers, then placed them on Buffy's head stone. He had the head stone changed to this: BUFFY ANNE SUMMERS 1981-1999 Eternally REMEMBERED FOREVER LOVED, THE CHOSEN ONE THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
It had cost him a lot of money, but Angel didn't care. It fit. He whispered, "Good bye, Buffy." Then he stood up, and with one last look at the graves, he walked away.
Doyle and Spike were in the car waiting for him. Spike snapped, "Took you bloody long enough, didn't it?"
Angel just glared at him and replied, "Don't force me to kick your ass."
Doyle cheered him on, "Do it, Boyle, kick Whitey's ass."
"Shut your bloody, mixed mouth up," Spike shouted at him.
Angel slid into the driver's seat and said, "That's enough you two." Then he asked Spike, "Do you wanna eat tonight?"
Undaunted, Spike asked, "So, we go back to L.A. and kick some more demon ass?"
Doyle snapped at the white-haired vampire as Angel drove out of the cemetery, "It's not just about fighting, it's about saving souls."
Angel grinned as he listened to the familiar argument. Spike replied, "That's Angel's job. I'm just kicking demon ass. I'm not some bloody, brooding poof."
As they hit the highway, Angel could have sworn he heard Buffy tell Spike and Doyle, "Watch him, take care of him for me. Okay?"
He looked over to see Spike as he said, "I guess so." Then Doyle answering, "Of course, Lass."
Angel saw Buffy's specter as she said, "Thank you." Then she faded away. But, as Angel changed lanes, her voice echoed through his mind, "Good bye, and be careful."
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
