"You know friendship is about trust. I ragged on Buffy for not trusting that I could back her up and look after myself. Thing is Joyce, Trust is two-way, and when Angel turned on us and became Angelus... Well I found excuses for not trusting my friend. God knows I had reason. Angelus was on the loose had been for a while. Because he was wearing Angel's face, and Buffy secretly hoped to get Angel back she hesitated repeatedly. When I interfered that day he tried to destroy the world, I thought I was doing the right thing. Seems doing the right thing is just as hard with Super powers as it is without them.

Everything had lead to this moment. Angelus had harassed and harried the group for the better part of the school year. Angel had lost his soul unleashing Angelus. The newly released Angelus immediately turned to the takes of sadistically harassing his former allies, the Scoobies. He had succeeded in killing Jenny Calendar, a teacher secretly sent to Sunnydale to watch Angel. She had been trying to restore Angel's soul as recompense for lying to Buffy and Giles. Angel had discovered her plans. Willow had tried the spell herself but Drusillia and a gang of undead had attacked them.

Xander had been fleeing the scene intending to suit up and fight as Spider-man. Instead, a stray bookcase had knocked him out. Giles had suffered the most of them all. He had cared for Jenny, had opened his life to the woman and just when things were looking like they might work, boom, harsh reality.

Giles found Jenny dead. Her body lay on his bed by Angelus. Angelus unleashing his inner bastard, the vampire's plan was simple, Unleash Acathla and destroy the world. Eventually he kidnapped and tortured Giles. He needed the Watcher's knowledge to awaken the statue and besides, it bothered Buffy.

Willow had made it clear she wanted to try the spell even in her weakened state. She sent Xander to find Buffy; she was to delay killing Angel until Willow could restore the vampire's soul.

Xander had other plans.

The final fight was progressing. Xander found Giles rescued him. About half way to the door, the librarian collapsed as vampires surrounded him. Giles was out of it so Xander hit them with everything he had. .

One of the vampires chased Xander toward a wall. Xander did not stop and the vampire was amazed when the boy ran up the wall. Flipping off, he landed behind the vamp and dusted it. His Spider-sense flared and he ducked to avoid two more. Rolling underneath to pop up between them both, he launched himself in the air, kicking out with both legs to slam both enemies to either wall of the corridor. Twisting his body to impossible angles, He dusted them both.

He scooped Giles up into his arms and skittered up a wall toward a skylight. Busting out the opening to the roof he leapt to the ground and took Giles to safety.

"Where is Buffy," Giles was awake again.

"Inside, facing Angelus."

"You left her alone, she must not face him alone. "

"She can handle Angelus."

"Danm it boy don't argue with me. To close the portal she will have to kill Angelus and push him through. "

Xander nodded, she might hesitate if she thought Angel might have come back and Angelus knew this and would use it against her. He put Giles into a taxi, then sprinted toward the mansion tearing open his shirt to reveal his costume. Xander Harris had done all he could. It was time for Spider-Man to make an appearance.

Angelus was losing or maybe Buffy was. That was the nature of the fight. It was going back and forth. Angelus had the cards that much he was sure of the longer the two fighters danced around the mansion floor, the greater the chances Acathla would awake and swallow the world.

Angelus finally battered the girl to the ground. He stood over her. He prepared to drive the blade in his hands into her. It would be quick but hey he was about to destroy the world you had to prioritize.

"No weapons, no friends, no hope…take all that away and what have you got." He raised the sword above the Slayer.

"Me" answered a cry from the shadows. Angelus whipped his head around and took the full force of Spider-Man's blow directly in the face. He went spinning to the floor. Spider-man landed on the ground, picked up the vampire, and threw him into a wall.

"Finally somebody who is in this for the big prize." Angelus got up and came at the wall-crawler

Buffy raced to get between them. "Stop" she cried out to the masked vigilante "you don't know what you are doing."

Spider-man raised his fist and fired off a mass of webbing that caught Buffy in the chest and shoved her back against a wall. The webbing fixed her to the wall like a moth pinned to a board.

"You mounted the Slayer" Angelus snarked "that makes two of us."

"You degenerate" Spidey snarled

"That is your real problem isn't. You have always wanted my place. The Big Bad, and thanks to me you're barely a distraction."

"I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass Dead-Boy." Spiderman scored a hit hurling Angelus backward. He and Angelus traded blows as the Slayer struggled to get off the wall.

Angelus was many things but not a fool; he finally for the fist time in months looked past the bravado and the quirky comebacks to see his enemy. He began to laugh, as they traded blows across the floor.

"You'll never have her you know. Even if you beat me, you will never have her. You're a barely a man in her eyes and killing me won't change that."

"It will make me feel better." Spidey kicked at him.

"Feel this." Angelus backhanded him sending the webbed one crashing to the floor. "Go on make your play loser, and if by some miracle you pull if off you can be just like me."

"I'm better then you."

"You're right You hide the demon within so much better then I ever did. But then I never really tried"

"You're a killer not me."

"After today you will be. Just like me, a demon hiding just behind a mask."

Spider-man screamed and kicked at him sending Angelus flying as he flew through the air Spidey snagged his body with a web-line and sent him whirling into a stone column. Buffy finally tore herself off the wall and ran to the vampire as he climbed to his feet.

"Summers get out of the way." Spider-man yelled

"Buffy what's going on. I feel like I haven't seen you in months." Angel said weakly. Willow had finished the spell. Angelus was sealed and Angel was back.

"Angel, Oh my god; baby, you're back." Buffy cried, tears brimming in her eyes

"It can't be Willow must have done it. She must have done the spell." Spidey muttered mystified.

That was when the vortex started pulling in the room, first small things then larger. The pull from the gapping tear in space began pulling the three fighters toward hellish oblivion.

Angel instinctively reached for Buffy and grabbed her. Spider-man crouched on a wall and fired a web-line that entangled Angel's hand. Anchored, They were now floating in space. Their bodies being pulled by the vortex, a pull that was getting stronger and stronger.

"Listen to me, Angel screamed "Fire a line and grab Buffy, when you have her, pull her in."

"No Angel I just got you back I'm not losing you again."

"I'll be right behind you."

Xander Harris looked into the eyes of Angel and saw truth at last. Angel knew who and what Spider-man really was and what he could do, most painful for Xander though was the forgiveness he also saw. Forgiveness for what had to happen next. Xander nodded silently, and fired a line snagging Buffy and reeling her in.

When Buffy was clear of the vortex Xander released his hold on the line holding Angel. Angel went flying into the vortex. It slammed closed behind him static discharges in the air the only marker of where it had been.

Buffy screamed her tormented frustration at the world. Spider-man came off the wall.

"I had to, it was the only way to close the portal."

"I could have found a way, I was right about Willow being able to fix Angel and I would have been right about this. You had to interfere. Get in the way just like you always do. Not enough you steal my best friends from me now you send the only man I ever loved to hell."

She stood up and stalked toward him. "Xander told you where we would be. Well you tell him the next time that you see him that I will never forgive him for that. I could have saved Angel but you got involved and that's his fault. You wanted to be The Big Bad, consider this your promotion. I'm going to devote the rest of my life to see you just as dead as Angel is right now. "

It was a day or so later Buffy was walking down the hallway of Sunnydale high. She met Giles and Oz pushing Willow in a wheelchair.

"You've been hard to find Buff" Oz was casual almost hiding the tone of worry in his voice.

"I've been hunting, Xander's little wall crawling friend has been impossible to find. Where is Xan I, want to talk to him."

"Xander's gone," Willow said miserably

"What do you mean gone."

"I mean packed his stuff and left. No one knows where and his parents aren't exactly being helpful."

"Didn't he leave a note."

"He says that it's his fault that Angel had to die and he thinks you will never forgive him. He's sorry he allowed Spider-man to screw everything up. He promises that we will never see him again."

"What happened to Angel was Spider-man's fault." Buffy said, "Xander just made a bad call."

"It would appear that Xander doesn't see it that way. " Giles said as they walked into the school together.

Xander watched from afar. His life as Spider-man was supposed to make everything better. Buffy would not be alone. They would not have to worry about him and instead Angel was gone, Buffy hated him in both his guises. People had been hurt.

Everyone would be better off without him around. He stopped at the bus station next to a garbage can. Taking his suit out he stuffed it into the trash and emptied half a bottle of lighter fluid on top of it. Setting the whole thing ablaze he watched it go up in smoke.

"In the end Angel was the real hero, He was barely in his body a second and he gave it up to save Buffy and relied on me to help him. " he muttered talking to himself

"Being a hero is kind of like that." Whistler answered him

"What do you want?"

"To know where you think your going, Sunnydale needs a hero."

"It has one, Buffy, and frankly I should have been content with that."

"Kind of late to be having a change of heart don't you think."

"That's the wonderful thing you can break ties with your old life and start fresh somewhere else."

"You only have enough to get you to LA

"Its not Sunnydale and right now anything that's not Sunnydale is ok with me." Xander climbed aboard the bus out of town leaving Whistler behind.

Whistler looked at the charred uniform in the trashcan. "Poor kid thinks he can just walk away from you …why do they always have to learn things the hard way."

Joyce let a meaningful silence pass between them. "All right Mrs. Summer I'll admit it I ran and I actually didn't plan on coming back." Joyce smiled indulgently as she always did. "You're right running away was not the solution but fortunately the Powers that Be were looking out for me. I may have given Up on Spider-man but Spider-man didn't give up on me."