Hi everyone! This is set during that flashback scene in 'Becoming, Part 1', where past Angel goes to LA. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I own nothing in the Buffyverse...
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"I want you to see something…You see, and then you tell me what you wanna do."
In the dark, even the tiniest light can seem as bright as the sun. And that's where I've been for so long. The dark. The people around, they've got tiny lights within them, faint and flickering, like a candle in the wind. But there are some…some whose lights are brighter. Like Buffy.
I'd been living in Manhattan for years, too many to count, when Whistler found me. He got me annoyed to actually listen to him, then took me to LA to show me something. He showed me her.
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A group of girls walked down the steps of the LA high school. Whistler hadn't told me what she looked like, or what I was even looking for, but I immediately picked her out. Her light was the brightest I'd ever seen. It outshone the sun. I knew that this was Whistler had wanted me to see, what would give me the strength to become someone. I followed her, and I watched her.
I watched as she talked to her friends. She was so young, so sweet and innocent. She wore her heart on her sleeve for all to see. I wanted nothing more than to protect it.
I watched as she met her Watcher. She was so confused. Her reaction almost made me smile; it was the closest I had come in a century.
I watched as she slayed her first vampire, as she missed the heart the first time. When he turned to dust, she was so surprised. The look on her face was heartbreaking. She had just realized what her life was likely to be like from now on. I felt so sorry for her. She didn't deserve this. Not a life like this, like mine, in the darkness. She could never belong to the dark, not with a light like hers. I made my decision in that moment, but I watched her a little longer.
I watched her go to her house, talk with her mother. She went into the bathroom to wash up. We could both hear her parents arguing. A tear slipped down her cheek and I longed to brush it away. I knew I had no choice now. I had to protect her if I wanted to truly live. I had to protect her, protect that fragile innocence for as long as I possibly could.
I had to shelter from the darkness. If that light ever went out, time would stop. The world would end, if only for a moment. Because without her, darkness would fall. Forever. No one else would ever have the light she had, be able to stand in the darkness and not succumb. But if I had anything to say about it, she would never stand in the darkness; at least, not alone. I would always be at her side.
I've never been in love before, but I would always love her, my Buffy. Always.
Always…