A day passed and Angel watched, white knuckled as Buffy fought the demon through the window. Galendil had been right and sure enough after Buffy managed to kill it for the first time it then took on the guise of Dawn.

He watched as she fought the mental agony of hurting what seemed in almost every way to be her sister and preyed that she would have the strength to look past that and keep herself alive.

The demon was strong, and Angel feared for her every time a blow managed to make contact. He wanted to look away, but was unable to do so. Fear, hope and love kept him glued to the scene unfolding before him.

He was too strong. And as the second day of the challenge wore on, Angel could see that she wouldn't last much longer. Her natural instinct as a slayer encouraged her to fight, encouraged her to attack. Without her powers however, her slayer instincts of fight rather than flight were proving from what Angel could see to be a hindrance, rather than any help.

"Back off Buffy," he found himself whispering, pleading even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "Don't attack. Retreat, run.....hide! Don't let him hurt you. Only a day and a half left..."

But she kept fighting. She kept advancing and every time she did, she was beaten back harder, and more blood was spilt.

"Damn it Buffy!" He hissed angrily. "Stay alive for me! Please, you have to make it!"

He watched helplessly as his words went unheeded and she was thrown viciously against a cement wall in the battle arena.

Letting out a cry of absolute fury and frustration, Angel put his fist through the wall of his cell, reveling in the pain of it. The wall of the cell closed up again after he removed his fist, almost as if it hadn't happened.

"Listen to me Buffy," he whispered brokenly, "hear me. Don't die. Please....please don't die."

She was going to die. She could feel it. She had already lasted too long as it was. No human being should be able to handle this much physical agony and yet it kept getting worse. She wasn't even close to victory. The demon was just toying with her, she could feel it. She hated it.

Dodging a blow to the head that might have resulted in an end game right then and there, Buffy retreated to the other end of the arena in an attempt to regroup and find another strategy. No matter how hard she tried, whatever tricks she had, she just wasn't strong enough. She was beginning to panic.

How could she possibly defeat the demon? How could she survive three days of this? Even if she did manage to kill him, he'd just get back up again and if she took any more beatings it was the end of the road for her.

Angel, her head screamed at her. Think of Angel. You have to save him. The demon lunged at her and Buffy avoided the blow once more, hastening to the other end of the arena. Dawn, she kept thinking, she needs you. She needs you to come back. Fight! Win for her!

Ducking once more, she turned round on the demon and kicked it in the back as hard as she possibly could, hoping to have some impact on it. It only made it madder and she only barely managed to avoid a spiked claw meant for her throat. Panic once again seized her as she realized how much longer she had to keep this up.

Willow, Xander, Giles, Anya, she kept thinking. They're your best friends. Stay alive. They couldn't handle it if you died again. They couldn't bear it knowing you were being tortured for real this time. Don't die!

But how could she live? Every time she hit him, every blow didn't even graze the demon. It made no impact. She was fighting for her life and not even making a dent in the grand scheme of things. To top it all off, the demon kept changing into the image and personalities of her friends. Oddly enough, that was the only part of the entire thing that didn't disturb her. Every time it shifted, it only serve to reinforce that it was a demon pretending to be someone close to her in order to throw her off. It only made it easier for her to concentrate on killing it. But killing it was proving to be incredibly difficult. She had so much more time left, how could she defeat this thing? What would Angel do? What would he say to her if he was here?

"God Angel I need you," she whispered as she rolled under the now Xander-like demon's fist and kicked upwards, attempting to connect with its genitals. It failed and she was hurled against the cement wall of the arena with sickening force.

She could feel herself losing consciousness and the entire world spinning in front of her. Fight! The voice screamed at her. Stay alive! Don't die!

Suddenly she realized it was no longer her voice urging her to win this challenge. It was Angel's. Looking around, she couldn't see him, but somehow she knew in her heart that he could see her and that he was with her every step of the way.

And then she knew how to win the challenge. She had lost her slayer powers and yet was still relying on her slayer instincts to see her through this and that was her mistake. A slayer's natural inclination is to fight the demon until the demon is dead. A slayer does not think retreat is an option. A slayer fights. That's how a slayer survives.

But a girl...well, a girl is not a slayer and fighting would only get her killed. In order to live, Buffy couldn't afford to fight. She couldn't take the aggressive with this battle. If she could just manage to avoid being hit or thrown by the demon for the remainder of the time of the challenge, she would win.

She had to run from this thing and she had to keep running. She couldn't let it get to her. Smiling, she positioned herself mentally for her new plan.

"I won't let you down Angel." She murmured with grim determination. "I won't let this thing kill me."