Summary: What if, instead of going to Pylea, Angel had gone to Sunnydale?
Episode Rewritten: The Gift – season five's finale.
Author's Notes: I never saw the episode – never got myself together for it – but read the script and heard some friends saying it was sucky. After all, Buffy would have called Angel if she needed help. So…
Spoilers: To The Yoko Factor, and that's it, I guess.
Rewriting The Love Story
Task #7 – Shanshu In Sunnyhell
"Angel?" Dawn's voice sounded anxious and insecure. Her sister's former boyfriend – and soul mate – furrowed in confusion, from his place in Los Angeles. Why in hell would the younger Summers girl call him?
"Hey, Dawnie. What's wrong?"
"We… We need your help. Buffy needs your help. Can you please come to the good old Hellmouth?" The girl asked. Angel silenced for a minute, and then asked, with his almost fearful voice:
"Does she know you're calling me?"
He couldn't get to say her name, not when it still stung.
From her comfortable position on her bed, Dawn glared at her anxious sister, and then answered:
"Yes, Buffy knows. Please, Angel?"
Angel sighed. Go to Sunnydale and help his – even now – beloved or run to Pylea in order to rescue Cordelia?
Not a huge dilemma, Angelus cut in, and Angel agreed silently. The decision was already made, the minute he heard Dawn's hesitant voice.
"Angel?" Dawn asked. Please don't say no, she begged mentally, glaring at Buffy. Now, had Buffy made the right move and gone to Angel instead of staying with Fish Boy…
"Yes", he answered. "I'll be here as soon as I can".
Dawn let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"You're what?" Gunn asked, hoping he had heard wrong. Angel sighed annoyed, as he packed a few things. Gunn was polishing a sword and Wesley, reading a book.
"I've already told you, the guys need me at the Hellmouth", he said for the fourth or fifth time in ten minutes. Wesley grinned knowingly, behind his book. As soon as he heard Dawn's name escaping Angel's lips, the former watcher knew that Cordelia's rescue was the last thing in Angel's to do list. At least until he was sure everything was okay in Sunnydale – and until he had made up with Buffy.
"What about Cordy?" Gunn asked.
"The Slayer needs Angel's help, otherwise Dawn would not have called. The two of us can rescue Cordelia, Charles", Wesley suggested, and Angel nodded.
"It's a very good idea, Wes", he threw his bag over his shoulder. "Bye, guys, and take care. Tell Cordelia I won't do anything she wouldn't do".
Buffy was pacing around the living room like a caged beast. Angel had called Dawn the minute he stepped in his car and told her he would be at Sunnydale in two hours tops. But he was now forty-five minutes late, and Buffy was getting more and more nervous by the minute.
Willow and Tara were sitting on the couch, and the redhead witch was grinning slightly. Dawn had become too anxious with Angel's lateness and Buffy sent her to the basement to be company for Spike.
Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and a tall silhouette covered with a black duster ran in. Buffy felt dizzy by the power of the tingle that ran up and down her spine. Willow made a movement with her hand and the curtains closed themselves. Angel threw the duster on the sofa and, after having heard the commotion upstairs, Dawn appeared in the living room.
"You came!" She squealed, hugging Angel tightly. He chuckled and hugged her in return.
"Every day you get more beautiful, Dawn", he said. "Now, what's going on? I can't stay too long; I'm needed in LA. Cordy is missing", he said.
"That's our Cordy, always getting her ass into trouble", Willow got up and went to hug Angel. "Hey, Angel".
"Hi, Willow", he said, hugging her lightly, and glanced curiously at Tara. The dirty-blonde witch blushed crimson, while her lover grinned broadly.
"Angel, please meet my girlfriend Tara".
"My pleasure", he smiled politely. Tara smiled shyly in return, noticing Angel's deep blue aura. Buffy's aura was also deep blue – a little lighter than before – and Tara grinned a little. They were the first soul mates she had ever met.
Angel then looked at Buffy, and the three girls could feel the palpable sexual tension between the on-again-off-again couple.
"Buffy", he murmured.
"Angel", she breathed. "Has Dawn told you the reason why we need you here?"
"No".
"Okay. Come with me. I'll update you".
The two walked up to her bedroom, and when they got in, Angel couldn't help but smirk a little. There was no trace of Riley around – in the house or in the bedroom.
"So, where's your… boyfriend?" He asked. Buffy glanced at him.
"No longer my boyfriend, no longer in town", she replied and sat down on her bed. Angel sat on the floor, his back against the wall, and she tapped the space next to her. "Come here".
Angel looked uncomfortably at her.
"Buffy…""Come on, it's not like we'll go for it", she said. Angel widened his eyes. Well, he still loved her, and wouldn't waste a chance of being close to her.
"Okay", he said, and sat next to her. Buffy snuggled into his embrace and closed his eyes. "So, what's the big bad this time?"
"A Hell Goddess", she said. "Name's Glorificus, but she likes to be called Glory. She is banned here and wants the key to her dimension", she told him. Angel gracefully arched up one eyebrow in question. "Dawn".
"What?" Angel gasped. Buffy nodded.
"Yes. And Dawn's why you're here. I need you to protect her as I fight Glory".
Angel kissed her forehead gently.
Giles, Spike, Tara, Willow, Xander and Anya watched as Buffy, Dawn and Angel stood on the tower's top: the two sisters were discussing who was going to jump in the vortex, and Angel seemed to be brooding. Suddenly he was nowhere to be seen, and Spike gasped quietly.
"I'll go", Buffy said resolutely. "Angel, you…" She looked around. "Angel?"
"Angel, no!" Dawn yelled. Buffy turned around and froze. Standing very close to the vortex, was Angel, who smiled sadly to his beloved and opened their bond to the most.
I have your blood, she heard his soft, velvety voice inside her mind. I love you, baby. I always have, and in eternity I always will.
He jumped in the vortex, closing it thanks to the blood that he had drunk from Buffy two years before, and that still ran in his veins. Dawn fell on her knees, sobbing. Buffy could not move.
Scenes from I.W.R.Y.
Angel's lifeless body fell on the floor. Willow let out a strangled sob and hid her face into Tara's neck's crook. Meanwhile, Tara felt her eyes watering, as she caressed her lover's soft hair.
Giles discretely looked away, his eyes burning with tears. Spike disappeared as soon as Angel's body – and not his ashes – started to fall, so he could grieve his grandsire's passing properly.
Xander felt dread, while Anya rested her head on his shoulder, thinking that such a sexy man being dead was a waste.
Giles moved to pick Angel's body, but a voice stopped him.
"Don't", Buffy said.
"It's all my fault!" Dawn cried hysterically. "If I hadn't asked him to come, he would still be alive!"
"Shut up, Dawn!" Buffy yelled, then approached the lifeless body of the man she loved. "Why, baby? Why did you make those decisions alone? First you leave; then, you erase my memories; and now, you commit suicide. Why, Angel?" She asked gently, with shaky voice. There was a flash of white light; then a blue female dressed in golden togas appeared.
"It was foretold, Slayer", she said. "To live, the dark warrior should die!"
"I know you!" The Slayer exclaimed. "You're one of those creatures who…" The Oracle's words sunk in. Buffy hugged Angel's body tightly. "To... To live?" She licked her suddenly dry lips.
"Shanshu", the Oracle smiled happily. Buffy slid her hand over Angel's chest, stopping right over his heart. It started to beat steadily, and Angel's cheeks flushed with running blood.
"Ohgodohgodohgod!" Buffy exclaimed. She ripped Angel's shirt open and glued her ear to the marble expansion of his unmarred chest, feeling her soul mate's lungs filling with oxygen. Tears started to flow uninterrupted down her cheeks, and she let out a cry of pure ecstasy.
"Angel, baby, wake up!" She called. Willow approached her friend.
"He's gone, sweetie. Angel is…" She squeaked when the supposedly dead vampire sat up. "… Christ all mighty!"
"Buffy?" He asked disoriented. "I feel funny", he rubbed his eyes and groaned when he saw the Oracle smiling angelically at him. "Oh, no. What's up if I keep this? Buffy dies, or what?"
Said girl covered his mouth with a glare.
"Don't you dare. Give this back, and I'll kick your ass".
"Do not worry, Chosen One", the Oracle said. "For this gift cannot be returned. You are released from your duties as the Hellmouth's caretaker, and so are you, Angel. The brunette slayer shall take over".
With that she was gone.
Buffy didn't waste a minute, and kissed Angel passionately. He grinned.
"I have an unused table. Wanna test it?"She squealed, and they ran.
THE END
Next In 'Rewriting The Love Story': 8 – Baby Steps Towards Love: Buffy and Angel's first meeting after the summer between seasons 1 and 2 is sweeter and fluffier when it goes my way. Rewrite to 'When She Was Bad'.
