Buffy snorted. "Whatever. Good to know that at the very least I'm predictable. Angel in trouble Buffy to the rescue-:
"And of course it has never been vice versa," the soft spoken one chided lightly, and Buffy snapped her mouth shut before nearly pouting, muttering,
"Yeah, well, he could have at least called-"
"And of course it has never been vice-versa," the power murmured again and Buffy felt herself flush slightly before she enquired flatly,
"What's happening?" listening with varying degrees of interest, horror and disbelief as the Circle was explained to her, it's power, Angel's actions, the other's distrust-
"My GOD!" she exclaimed in frustration as the much condensed explanation of the past few months of Angel's life was concluding. "Does he always have to be so damn NOBEL? Couldn't he just once-"
"He is far nobler than you have ever realized," the quiet one cut her off, an edge to his voice, and Buffy frowned, squaring her shoulders as she demanded flippantly,
"Okay, fine. He's in trouble, how do I fix it?"
"Still such a child," one said, shaking his head almost sadly as he continued, "Surely you must realize it is far too late for words such as 'fix' now. All that is left are choices that you must make in the best way you know how-"
"So tell me my choices!" Buffy cried in frustration, half wanting to reach out and send a lamp shattering against the wall just so she could feel like she was doing something and not just foolish and ineffectual and small-
"I assume you've deduced the apocalypse is tonight-"
"And he really wasn't going to call?" Buffy asked incredulously, voice taking on a slight edge as she muttered, "how TYPICAL-"
"He does not believe there is any chance of survival," one of the men before her supplied and Buffy let out a disbelieving laugh.
"And he didn't think that, I don't know, a few thousand slayers might help his chances a little? MY GOD! What is his PROBLEM?" she snapped. "And what about this whole Shanshu THING? Can we talk about that for a minute, because, I mean, HELLO! News to me and-"
"That is what your choice concerns," one cut her off smoothly. "Evil shall not triumph tonight. This was never our intention-"
"The hell with your intentions!" Buffy snapped, finally giving in and allowing herself to shatter the lamp against the wall inches from one of their heads. "Can't you people ever just spit it out? WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?"
"Always impatient," one said disapprovingly before turning to her. "On the day that was not, Angel bound his life to yours, though he did not realize it-"
"Okay, again with the 'news-to-me' bit," Buffy bit out sarcastically even as she felt slightly sick, trying without success to understand what was being said. "Day that wasn't? What are you guys SMOKING?"
"I hope you have gained enough wisdom to be calm at what you must see."
"Oooh! Let me guess!" Buffy chirped. "Does it involve another hand-to-hand bonding moment, because I think I've had enough of those for one-aaaaaaah!" she groaned as she was slammed up against the nearest wall in a flash of light and assaulted with memories of ohmygod sex and ice cream and sunlight and kissing and ohmygod a table snapping in two as Angel more or less pounded her into the floor, moaning as she felt his heart beating rapidly against hers and then words… her name 'oh god! It isn't enough time!'
And then in another flash of light she was back in her small apartment, gasping on her knees as the Powers looked sympathetically down at her. "I don't- I can't-" she gasped, struggling to her feat and then collapsing onto the nearest chair, sputtering the only word she could think of, voice tortured, "WHY?"
"A demon's blood mixed with his and gave him life. He chose to trade it that you might live, and in doing so linked his death to your life-"
And something finally clicked in Buffy's head as she dragged herself to her feet, head still spinning from the rapid onslaught of memories and she questioned slowly, voice shaking slightly, "Are you telling me that Angel and I both need to die tonight for the world to survive? Because if you are I wish you'd just come out with it." She shrugged, trying to be flippant. "I mean, not like I haven't died before-"
"No," the soft-spoken one replied, looking at her sympathetically. "What we're trying to explain is that you must make a far more complex choice. When Angel linked his life to yours, he ensured that he would Shanshu tonight only if you died in the same battle he would be fighting. You must choose whether or not to go to America and fight beside him, knowing you will die, that he may live."
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Feedback keeps me writing (and makes me happy)… and the next chapter we will be getting to the good stuff (as in actual Bangel interaction, yay!)
Thanks for reading!