All around her, people murmur to each other in confusion, as music plays softly, painfully. She wishes it gone, wants the room to melt and for Xander to not be walking away from her, towards the steps, the sun, and somewhere she isn't. She wants nothing more than for him to still be standing in her grasp, the two of them all alone in the world except for each other.

Better than simply alone.

Tears roll down her face and her friends, his friends, finally find their legs and rush towards her. They stop, not knowing what they're supposed to do. She stares past them, and as his best man places a shaking hand on Anya's shoulder, tears in her own eyes, she truly thinks she's going to crumble in on herself, because–

She doesn't want to think it, yet the bitter voice in the back of her mind nudges its way forward. He left me. She doesn't want to think.

D'Hoffyrn approaches her from behind and whispers something she barely hears before taking her hand, and leading her the wrong way down the aisle to where they'll be safe from mortal eyes.

She's not ready, but she goes anyway.

Riley's gone now, and Buffy's so quiet. The moment she enters the shop, face blank and without hope, all sound drains from the room. Anya greets her with a mostly forced smile, hoping a reply will spin itself into conversation. She hates this. Every time there's quiet, it feels as if the world's ending, more doomed than apocalypse ever felt.

Silence means death to a girl who's defined life through screams of pain for so long. It's minutes wasted, ticked away and thrown out as they all sit and stare at their hands, at the walls, everything but each other. Now her world is constantly too quiet.

Buffy's world must be even quieter.

Behind Buffy is Xander, walking towards Anya with a sweet smile and open arms. As soon as he's within reach she leans over the counter, grabs his collar and pulls him in close, kissing him like the world really is ending, just how she'd want the world to go out. The tinkling bell above the door sounds, and though neither of them wants to, they stop. Faces still close, their eyes are locked.

She bites her lip. "Never leave me."

And he smiles. "Wouldn't dream of it."