Xander had never liked Angel. That was no secret. It was a dislike born equally out unreasonable envy over Buffy's affections and perfectly reasonable distrust of the creatures that had forced him to kill one of his best friends and which terrorized his town. Naturally that dislike had intensified in recent months. He had watched as the girl he loved had sunk perilously close to depression and as the man he respected was almost shattered by the death of the computer teacher. He had watched from the sidelines as he always did. Now both those people were in danger and Willow (who was in the hospital because of Angel) had sent him with a message.

"Willow said to tell you" he began. Buffy looked at him expectantly, there was such despair in her eyes underneath the resolve. He just wanted her to be happy again. "That she's going to try the spell again."

It was so confusing. She had come here ready to kill him and now she might not have to. She just needed to distract him, keep him busy long enough for Willow's spell to work. It would be tricky, her own hesitation might get her killed, but she missed him so much. She just couldn't let it go if there was even a chance he could come back to her. She couldn't kill him. She let the sword that Whistler had given her slip from her grasp, and charged into the mansion.

He was clearly in the middle of some kind of ritual, but she didn't stop to exchange pleasantries, she simply tackled him before he could get any further. They were fighting hand to hand and Buffy was glad. There was less chance of one of them killing the other that way. Behind her she could hear Spike and Drusilla clawing at each other and out of the corner of her eye she saw Xander sneak off with Giles but she couldn't let anything distract her right now. She fought with everything she had and started to drive him backwards into the courtyard when she suddenly remembered that it was still sunny outside. Panicking she stopped herself midway through a kick that would have sent him flying out into the daylight. Her sudden change in momentum caused her to trip and she fell onto the flagstones. Before she could move he was on top of her. He was so much bigger than she was; she could beat him in a stand up fight but from this position she couldn't get him off of her. He held her close in a parody of a lover's embrace.

"No weapons, no friends, no hope" he whispered, "take all that away and what's left?" Still hoping that Willow's spell would happen any second now, she looked him straight in the eyes and said "us". He put one hand on her face then reached the other around the back of her head; still grinning he twisted both hands in a sharp jerking motion.

Angel looked down at the girl at his feet and took a moment to savour his victory before casually strolling over to Acathla and reaching for the sword. Before he could take hold of it he doubled over in pain feeling as though something very heavy had struck him. There was a brief searing agony followed by a moment of blackness.

The first thing Angel saw when he opened his eyes was a hand. It was laid out on the floor as though it had been grasping at something. As he staggered to his feet he saw the rest of the body. Her eyes were wide open and staring and her neck was bent at an awkward angle; it was obvious from looking at her that she was dead. His shock was nowhere near as great as his confusion. Despite all his efforts to protect her he had always known something might happen to Buffy; if only he could remember what had happened to her. Perhaps they had been fighting something and he had been knocked in the head? But there was no one else around. Before he could think any further the memories came back to him and he slumped to the floor.