BYE BYE

DISCLAIMER: This work of fiction is not meant to infringe on the copyright held by Joss Whedon, FOX and Warner Bros. I'm just playing for a little while, and promise to put them back in (more or less) one piece.

SPOILERS: This is set sometime in Season 4.

RATING: PG-13, if that.

SUMMARY: Someone's being pushed to the limit of their patience. How long until they snap?

FEEDBACK: More than welcome. I live for it.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I misread my prescription, and managed to take twice the prescribed dose of my medication. No, I'm not going to spontaneously combust, but it does make for some strange thoughts. Fair warning.

DEDICATION: To Stefan and James for a kick-ass convention. Any schedule that has the magic words, 'whipping & spanking workshop', is fine by me.

1.

Mortal enemies just aren't what they used to be. Trying – and occasionally succeeding – to kill those you care about would tend to make someone your mortal enemy, was the way things were before. Not anymore. In this day and age, we are 'friends' and 'compatriots' with killers. It's the way things are now, so we adapt, whether we want to or not. I look at him, and all I want to do is grab the nearest table leg and turn him into dust. Do I? No. Because he's 'one of us'. He turned up on my doorstep one day, and so I had to invite him in. All I wanted to do was kill him, but instead, I invited him in.

Since when do we shelter killers?

2.

Well, he's decided to make friends. Whether this means a resigned look as he tries to 'patch things up' with me or buying me a drink, or whatever…. I don't care anymore. I still look at him as if he's a threat, and how do we know that he isn't? Just because he doesn't kill anymore doesn't mean that a few years ago he didn't kill. I mean…. Excuses or not, he's still a threat, an enemy, a killer in my eyes. And no amount of platitudes on his part will make me change my mind. Sooner or later…. 'poof'. And if anyone asks….. he attacked me. They'll believe it, as well. After all, he's a killer at heart.

3.

He was injured today. A good knock to the head sent him out for the count, while the rest of the attacking vampires were taken care of. I don't know how he can stand to fight against his own kind, but then, he's always been a flexible one, hasn't he? I mean, one minute he's trying to kill us all, the next he's working with us. But how are we meant to forget what he was before? I can't. And I have to have revenge for her. Oh, how easily she was forgotten by everyone else! But not by me. I remember her, and I remember her death. I know that it wasn't specifically him that killed her, but it's near enough. And I will never be able to get at the real killer, so he'll do instead. See, I can be flexible too.

Injured…. Bleeding all over my carpet. They left me alone with him – probably thought that he'd be safe, that I'd patch him up. The only other person who had the time to spend with him was Xander, and he couldn't stand to. Not that I blame him. I'm this far away from staking him and getting it over with.

I mean…. There he is. Lying helpless on my couch. I could just pick up a stake and get to it, and say….. something. Anything. Maybe the fight addled his wits and he reacted on instinct. Maybe he was lying to us the whole time, and this was an elaborate scheme on his part to destroy us from the inside out. It's worked pretty well so far. Everyone is at each other's throats.

So. I have to stop that, don't I? Their welfare is my responsibility in the end. And I still want my revenge.

Find a stake. I'll break the table afterwards; say that I used a leg as a weapon. Not that they'll question it much. One step… two steps… three steps…. And look down at his sleeping face. I have to admit that he's attractive – I'm not blind. But he… he still needs to die.

He's asleep. One more step….

And then his eyes opened in shock and horror as the stake ripped through his chest like it was tissue paper, embedding itself in his unbeating heart. An instant later, he was dust.

I know that he's not the one that killed her, but I'll never be able to get my revenge on her real killer. This is near enough.

Bye bye Angel.

End "Bye Bye"