Title: Destroyed

TV Show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Author: Beloved Slayer

Rating: T

Summary: In a moment of desperation, Buffy decides to plunge the stake into Angelus' heart. Takes place during Innocence.

Author's Note: This is a very short what if one shot that takes place during the infamous Buffy and Angelus' battle scene in the episode. Buffy and Angel do not belong to me, unfortunately. All feedback and reviews are encouraged and more than welcome. To set the melancholic mood of this story, the song that inspired it is titled Dreams and Silver Tears by Icon and The Black Roses. If anyone is interested, you can find that song and also their album on Itunes, as I thought it would be perfect to listen to while typing this one shot. There's a slight possibility of a sequel. So, that aside, enjoy!

Chapter One

Apprehension wafted in the moist air, and she felt her heart rapidly beating against her chest, threatening to tear itself apart against the chest cavity, her mind wishing that she was anywhere else but in the moment.

"You can't do it. You can't kill me," Angelus mocked, tendrils of chocolate hair matting against his irresistible face, his eyes narrowing into devious slits of menacing radiance, his trademark smirk flitting his lips as he cautiously approach the weary Slayer, eyes transfixed on hers.

"Watch me," Buffy quipped, her voice low with anger, keeping pace with his predatory movements. Angelus scoffed. "Or what? You know you can't do it. It's just empty words, lover. You and I both know it. You and I both know that if you kill me, you'll never see him again. And it kills you to know that, doesn't it? That you can't kill me without killing the man you love, huh?"

Thousands of melancholic thoughts raced through her mind as she ignored the words that had struck at her heart. The first time they had met. The night where he had given her the silver cross. The first time they had kissed. The first time they had made love. The first time he had become her enemy after their initial night of unrelenting passion.

Before the witty, smart ass remarks and flashing smiles that were an extinguished portion of her personality were diligently replaced by the constant flow of tears and the never ending painful reminder of the price she had paid for losing Angel.

Thinning her lips, she wrapped a steely hand around Angelus' neck, taking him by surprise as she pressed him roughly against the wall, constricting his larynx as his back shattered the remains of a movie poster, the frame tumbling recklessly onto the floor as glass fragments splattered throughout with abandon.

Buffy rose the stake to his chest, her throat tightening as she felt the first of many tears making its appearance in the brim of her left eye. "Oh, come on lover, don't go all soft and weepy on me now. You have me. Dust me already, will you? I'm not waiting forever, you know," Angelus encouraged, his expression a blank of nothingness. No remorse or regret was shone in his brown orbs.

Biting her lip, Buffy's mind was suddenly taken to a particular;y recent memory that only herself and the man she had loved had shared.

"I love you. I tried not to…but I can't stop." His words.

Lifting her head, Buffy faced Angelus square in his expecting eyes, steeling herself for the inevitable.

"Consider it done," she mused, pressing the wooden weaponry firmly in the chest cavity of her arch enemy until it reached the end of his left shoulder blade, his mouth gaped with utter surprise and undisguised pain, his body quickly lashing out against hers, but she gave him no opportunity to inflict any injuries on her.

"You did it," Angelus doted, grinning in spite of the immense suffering, his fingers now digging into her shoulders as his body slowly began to develop into motes of swirling dust. Seconds later, most of his body except for the face area was nothing but ashes.

"You killed us. Happy suffering, lover. Guess you won't be seeing him again. Forever," Angelus sneered, his beautiful face disappearing, replaced with the last remaining ashes that left a slight residue on the wall.

The Slayer begin to wail as if the universe hadn't heard her cries many times before, her forehead leaning against that very same wall as the tears she had tried to hold back begin to drop gracefully onto the ashes below her, her knees threatening to buckle underneath her wavering strength, her mind leaving only images of the man she had loved and lost.

What did I just do?