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Part 2
It would be that night, after all.
Apparently, though Angel didn’t use his apartment anymore, some of his friends did. After he became a vampire again it seemed that he had opened a sewer entrance beneath his apartment so his minions could come in and out during the day. Which they did. Or at least . . . tried to do.
Buffy was planning when the first one opened the trap door and began to climb out. He didn’t even have time to shout out a warning before she sent a stake into his heart. A layer of dust settled over the floor.
The second one gave a cry and leaped out—probably not the smartest thing he could have done—to challenge her. Buffy pointed this out to him as she kicked his face in and staked him. She peered down the trap door. There weren’t any more.
“Too bad,” Buffy sighed. “I guess this is all the dust I get today.” Angel was going to get a little present . . . like the present he’d left for her. True, he wouldn’t care about the loss of a few minions, but he would care about her killing them, and about the message she would send with them.
Using a broom she found in the closet she carefully collected up all the dust and put it into a small jar she found on a shelf. She pulled a piece of paper from his desk and dipped his feather pen in the ink jar. My, he HAD been old-fashioned. All the better though . . . he would know where she had been, and that she was over him. Completely. Totally. After all, she was going to kill him.
It was so sweet of you to remember our anniversary. What do you say we get together and have a little fun to celebrate? I’m up for dancing. Just the two of us. See you there, Buffy wrote. She didn’t sign it. She didn’t need to. She taped it to the jar and took the trap door down. She had to deliver it—carefully, but she needed to all the same. It wouldn’t do to get caught, but she needed him to see it. Because she knew he would come. He wouldn’t be able to resist. And he never could realize that she was better than him.
The sewer was exactly the same as it always was—dark and bad-smelling and just incredibly icky! Buffy hated the sewers. She always ruined her clothes coming down there. *The things I do for revenge . . .* she sighed mentally. Talking was not an option anymore. There could be vampires anywhere, and it wouldn’t do to give them advance warning. And in a place as echoing as this, any sound would them very advanced warning. So she was quiet. Very quiet.
Soon enough it wouldn’t have matter how loud she was, because they were louder. Well, most of them were asleep—Dru and Spike and Angel at least, and the higher placed minions—some were left to guard, but they weren’t important. She could get away from then. She just had to make sure that the important three were sleeping as they should be. Important two really—Spike couldn’t do much anymore. What a pity.
She’d closed the jar so none of the dust would fall out, but if they didn’t catch it it would break anyway. Not that the dust was important—it was the note that mattered, and he would get that anyway.
They were very loose in their guarding. She’d have to tell him that before she killed him. So he would know there was one more thing he did. Or didn’t do. So he would know he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. But by then, he’d know that anyway.
“Catch,” Buffy called, throwing the jar down into their dwelling. One of the vampires on guard looked up with a snarl—but caught it anyway, primarily because it had been hurtling toward his head. And then they were all moving but Buffy was gone, running. She had made sure she knew where the nearest man-hole was. It was daytime and they wouldn’t be able to follow her once she got out of the sewer. Of course, a human could see her, but that wasn’t nearly as worrying as being caught. Being caught would mean she wouldn’t be able to kill Angel. And she might die. She didn’t know which one was worse at the moment. Both sounded bad.
They were fast, but Buffy was faster, and she had the advantage of suprise. They were closing in, but she also had the advantage of being human, and the minute she lifted up the metal lid, the nearest one to her turned into dust, burned up by the sunlight. The other shrank back, hiding their eyes. Buffy grinned and pulled herself up and out.
“ ‘Bye, have a nice day,” she called back, deliberately leaving the hole open. They’d just have to avoid the spot—and anywhere within eye-range of it until nightfall, and that could be distinctly annoying for them. Buffy enjoyed annoying them. It was one of those little things that kept one going. That, and killing Angel. Killing Angel would definitely keep her going.
“Mission accomplished,” Buffy said, dusting her hands off and trying to think of what time her mother would be out so she could go and get some clean clothes. After all, she and Angel had a date.
“We found it!” Willow exclaimed exuberantly, entering the library with Oz. He smiled and held up a small crystal ball with the markings of a Thesulan Orb.
“Very good. Especially since Buffy has not yet turned up,” Giles said, taking the Orb. That dampened Willow’s enthusiasm right away and she looked worried again.
“Wouldn’t we like, know if she died? I mean, she’s the Slayer. Wouldn’t something happen?” Cordelia asked. She and Xander had arrived ten minutes earlier, having had absolutely no luck with their local informant. Apparently neither had been strong enough to beat up a guy who was used to being assaulted by vampires. Cordelia had come close when she threatened to use her nails but no go.
“To the next Slayer, but not anything that would let us know right away,” Giles said, the look of worry that had not left his face since that morning deepening.
“Well we’d better get on with the ritual then,” Xander pointed out. “Even if saving Dead Boy is my last choice.”
“Would you shut up?” Cordelia turned on him. “I can’t believe you’re still jealous!”
“This is not about jealousy! It’s about Angel being a very, very bad man. Or vampire,” Xander amended.
“I’m so sure,” she replied, though she didn’t really doubt his reasons . . . it was more strength of habit.
“Let’s just get on with it, shall we?” Giles asked sharply.
“I’m ready,” Willow said. She was going to be doing the main spellcasting.
“Then let’s begin.” He handed the Orb back to Willow and she tok her place in the center of the circle he had drawn on the library floor. Cordelia finished lighting the last candle as Willow opened her mouth and began to speak.
“I thought you weren’t coming,” Buffy said.
“How could I miss it?” Angel asked. Angelus, she had to remind herself. This was not Angel. This was Angelus. Not that she was likely to forget it. Not with the little anniversary present he had left for her.
“Would you like to dance?” Buffy asked. There was no hurry now that he was here. Now that she knew she was only moments away from killing him. No hurry at all.
“I’d love to,” Angelus said, taking her hand to lead her to the dance floor. The band that was playing was good, but Buffy didn’t notice. Her whole being was focused on the man beside her. The vampire beside her. Whom she hated with every particle of her soul. Except for the ones that loved him.
It was a slow song. Of course, their last dance had to be. His last dance ever, she would make sure of that. Buffy put her arms around his neck and whispered all the things she would do to him in his ear. In return he told her about all the things he would do . . . all the things he had done. He told her how he had killed Ms. Calendar. How it had felt. And her uncle, he told her about that too. And he reminisced about raping the girl the night before. About the night they had made love. It had been love then, though his saying so now was a distortion to it, a twisting of the thing they had shared when he had a soul and she loved him.
And then the dance was over and Buffy stepped away. Looked at him, into his eyes and knew it was time.
“Shall we step outside?” she asked. He said nothing but motioned for her to precede him. She did, walking outside without any qualms in her heart. She knew what she must do and this time she would do it. This time she wouldn’t fail.
“Angel! Be forever trapped! Live in eternal torment, knowing what you have done and repenting what you did to my people. Forever you shall repent and yet never be saved. And you shall not know happiness for it is misery which holds you!” Willow cried, speaking the words of the spell. It was horrible to have to say this, but even if the curse could have been altered, they didn’t have the time. At least it seemed to be making Xander feel better about the whole thing.
*Only a few more minutes,* Willow thought. *Please let Buffy be okay!* She returned her mind to the task at hand kept talking. Only a few more minutes.
Buffy ducked his punch and struck out with her own kick towards his knees. He moved out of the way—but just barely. She hit his thigh anyway, and he cursed before coming back with a kick-spin-kick combo which she easily avoided. At least, she eaisly avoided the first kick and the second only hit her arm, sending her to the ground, but not hurting her beyond the slightest bruise. She rolled backwards with the fall, and came up ready to fight again. They circled for a moment, and then Buffy moved in, faking a punch and delivering a kick to his chest that sent him backwards in turn.
There was usually banter at this point in a fight, but Buffy was too intent upon her goal to answer any comments he might have made, though he didn’t make any. Which meant he was equally intent, or he was scared. She thought it was probably the latter. He had finally realized that she was better than he was, and that this time she would do it. She would kill him.
She flipped him over on to his back as he tried to punch her again, but he kicked her from behind before she could turn and sent her forward into what turned into a flip. She rounded on him once she was upright again and sent him backwards with a flurry of punches and kicks. He backed up beneath the onslaught, the finally managed to get through one of her punches and rolled away, to the side and then up again, waiting for her. She went to him.
“I summon you Angel! Come!” Willow cried for the first time. Three times and then the spell would be over. She could only hope that Buffy was still alive. *Just a few seconds. Hold on just a few seconds Buffy!* her mind cried. She opened her mouth to say it the second time.
She had him. He was hers. He was dead. It was just the matter of driving the stake in. And he knew it. Their eyes met for the last time—his full of hatred and evil, hers full of purpose and equal hatred. Hatred of what he had become, of what he had done. And love of what he had been before. Love that could not save him now.
“Good bye Angel,” Buffy whispered. And drove the stake in. There was moment when their eyes met and then he was gone forever, vanished into dust.
“Come!” Willow cried for the last time. The candles flickered and then blew out. The Orb was glowing. It was the only light in the room.
“Does that mean it worked?” Cordelia asked, breaking the silence.
“I think so,” Giles answered.
“Would somebody like to turn on some lights here?” Xander’s voice came from the dark. The lights came on. Oz stood by the door, smiling.
“I thought you might need a lights-guy,” he said. Willow grinned at him, everything but Oz forgotten for the moment. And then she remembered.
“How can we tell for sure? I mean, Buffy might still be in trouble!” Willow exclaimed.
“True. I say we go out looking for her,” Xander proposed.
“What would that do?” Cordelia asked. “You can’t very well go pay a visit on all the vamps and say, ‘excuse me Spike, Dru, Angelus, but we tried a little curse and we’d like to know if it works. Oh, and have you seen the Slayer anywhere?’ And if it did work, they’ll come back here to find out what happened. We should just wait and if they don’t show up, then we can worry.”
“She has a point,” Giles admitted, as if against his better judgement.
“Yeah, she does. I guess we have to wait,” Willow said.
“I just hope they don’t take long,” Cordelia continued, “Because I really need my beauty rest.” She wasn’t overly suprised when everyone chorused,
“Cordelia!”
She had done it. It was over. He was gone. Forever. He was gone.
Buffy started to cry and kept crying the whole way to the school.
“Buffy! You’re all right! Where’s Angel?” Willow exclaimed, leaping to her feet and racing to her friend. She was done crying now, but the marks still showed on her face. She looked up in suprise at her friend’s question and at the fact they were all there, everyone one of them. She had thought it would just be Giles to tell, but now she had to tell them all.
“What do you mean? I killed him. I finally did it. He . . . it was our anniversary. He left me . . . a present this morning. I had to kill him. Why are you all here?” Buffy asked, looking around at each of them. The faces that looked back at her were whiter than ghosts. “What’s the matter?”
“But we changed him back. A few minutes ago. The Orb was glowing—we changed him back!” Willow exclaimed. Buffy turned to her friend and gripped her shoulders strongly.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean?”
And Willow told her, with help from the others. Told her everything. How she had found the disk, and how worried they had been. How they had jumped to conclusions. And thow they had cast the spell, and the Orb of Thessala had glowed.
Xander got up at some point and helped her into a chair because she looked like she would collapse on the floor otherwise. She just sat there, not looking at anything, hearing the words, but not really hearing them Because if she had waited a moment longer she would have had her Angel back and the other one, Angelus, would have been gone. Gone forever, now that they knew how to keep him away. A second longer . . . because only a moment it must have been if they were accurate in the amount of time that had passed since then. Maybe even before he had died, when she had pushed the stake in. In that moment, maybe it had been then. Maybe she had killed Angel, the real Angel, whom she loved.
If she’d thought she was crying before, it was nothing like what she
was doing now. Because now she had made the biggest mistake in her
life, trying to make up for the second biggest. Because now she had
killed the only man she had ever loved, by being a moment too soon. If
only she had waited . . . But she hadn’t. And so Buffy cried, because
Angel was gone now. He had been gone before too, but at least then
she’d never had any hope of getting him back. But now she had the hope
. . . more than that. A moment more and it would have been reality.
Too late. Too early. Angel was gone. And Buffy cried.