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Part 2
Buffy ran.
She was not thinking anymore. Her brain had shut down. Tears streaming down her face, she continued at a frightening speed across town, not aware of where her feet were leading her to.
She just kept running.
Slowing down, she realized she was at Angel’s apartment. Pushing the door to the building open, she leaped down the stairs leading to the basement where Angel had lived before...
Forcing the knob to turn, she heard a crack as the lock gave way and she rushed into the apartment, closing the door as best she could behind her. She leaned against the door, sobbing uncontrollably, her mind bombarding her with memories, memories that they had shared here.
She drew in a deep, raged breath. The apartment still had his scent, she could almost feel his presence in the room. Reaching a shaky hand out, she leaned against the wall and began walking through the room, examining things. She passed his desk, his little statue in the glass case, that screen he had. She took everything in, slowly making her way to his bedroom. Standing in the door way, she braced herself as more images, memories came back to haunt her, just as his eyes did. She couldn’t escape them, they followed her everywhere.
Walking slowly over to the bed, she flung herself down on it, not noticing the thin layer of dust that covered the velvet blanket. Still sobbing, she drew the covers back and crawled in between the sheets, just like she had that night...
Curling into a little ball, she sobbed, growing quieter until she was hiccupping every few minutes. Exhausted, she cried herself to sleep, dreaming of better times.
Hugging herself, she imagined she was in Angel’s strong, cool arms. She drifted off to sleep, images of Angel still running through her mind.
“She’s not here,” Cordelia said in a tired voice as she came out of one of the side rooms into the living room of the mansion. Groaning, she walked over to the couch, rubbing her temples and feeling completely drained. They had been searching for hours, she had taken her car, and Xander, out and looked for Buffy. Oz had taken everyone else in his van, and they had all met up at the mansion after an unsuccessful search through the streets of Sunnydale.
“Great, now where do we look? We’ve been through Sunnydale at least five times. She’s not here,” Willow said, discouraged. Buffy had vanished again without a trace. It had been Oz who had suggested that they come to the mansion to look. Looking down at her hand, which was entangled with Oz’s, she managed a tired smile.
“Well...I--I don’t know where else we can look. We’ve looked everywhere. She’s gone,” Giles said and put a comforting arm around Joyce’s shoulder. He had filled her in, with a little help from Willow, on everything that had happened between Buffy and Angel. Now Joyce just stood there, her face a pale shade of gray, tears slowly leaking down her face.
“Wait,” Xander said quietly, causing everyone to turn in his direction with surprised looks on their faces. He hadn’t said one word since Buffy had left. “We didn’t check his old apartment.”
“Too bad we don’t know where that is. Slight problem,” Cordelia retorted, then seeing the look on Xander’s face, got up and went over to him. Looking him in the eyes, she begged for his forgiveness, which succeeded in getting a surprised look from him. He had a feeling that this whole thing had touched Cordy far more than she would ever admit, and maybe she’d finally start thinking about her friends more.
“Cordy, we know where it is,” Willow said gently, then spun on her heel and walked out to Oz’s van, with everyone else in tow. Opening the front door, she climbed in. Joyce and Giles got in the back, and Oz got into the driver’s seat, turning the key in the ignition and revving up the engine. Cordeila and Xander got into her car and followed Oz’s van out onto the street.
Dawn was approaching, and faint colors began to paint the sky. But no one noticed them, they were too busy lost in their own thoughts.
They had one final destination, one last hope, one more place to look for the
fallen and hurting Slayer. They all prayed that they would find her.