"...Promises to Keep"

"What I am-"

I know.

She looks at me with age that she doesn't possess and sees my soul. "I-I don't think you. you can. I don't think you can understand."

Tell me a new one. I've heard that before - "I'm the Slayer, and you don't understand because you're Willow, and you're not a Slayer, and you'll never be one, you're just weak and pathetic and accommodating and-"

((Yeah, I get that sometimes-

I don't think you can. I mean, I think it's a Slayer thing. I don't even think I'm explaining it that well))

I know she didn't mean it but it hurt. It still does if I let it. And this hurts, now. Coming from her. It reminds me of things that I don't want to -

((Oz! Don't you love me?

My whole life, I never loved anything else))

"What I am-"

I -

"Won't you let me finish?"

I can't. I can't let you finish because I'm afraid. Afraid of what you're going to say and what it's going to mean. Are you leaving me? Are you going to go away and when you come back will things be all different? Will it be like Oz? Will you leave me and then leave me again? And will it hurt just as much the second time as it did the first?

She shakes her head. "It won't be that way."

Did I speak out loud? Or does she see my thoughts written on my soul? In Magic Marker, I

bet. The purple one was always my favourite-

"You can't avoid it forever, you know."

Maybe if I-

"No. It'll be there, looking over your shoulder. Waiting for you to move. Waiting for you to-"

I'm not listening.

"Are you going to ignore it and hope it will go away? Has the way of the world changed, Willow? Because things have never been that way before."

I know.

"So?"

Please - I don't want to hear.

"Then you won't know what to expect."

I like surprises.

"You won't like this one. I promise you."

You'll look after me? Won't you? Take care of me and-

"Willow, I-"

Please look after me. I'm so weak on my own.

"I can't promise."

Try.

"I can't tell you that I'll do that."

Please.

Please--

Don't make promises you won't keep.