Angel's horror was only equaled by his pride as the petite blonde beside him took down demon upon demon, fearlessly throwing herself into the center of the battle, somehow managing to never be further than ten feet away from him, clearly watching what he was doing out of the corner of her eye even as she wrecked havoc on the scene in front of her. Seeing him looking at her as she ruthlessly snapped a demon's neck she shot him a small, knowing smile before viciously lashing out at the next obstacle, and it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't seen her fight like this since the days when he first knew her, before the master had killed her- almost completely on the offensive, never hesitating, seeming confident that nothing could possibly hurt her, could possibly conquer her-
He cringed despite himself as a Xander and the army of trained military experts he had bought with him fired another round of bullets from atop a nearby building, taking out a large handful of the monsters surrounding him and Buffy, who took advantage of the demons temporary distraction to look toward another building where Willow and a handful of witches were muttering an incantation, closely guarded by Faith and seven other slayers who were not in the thick of the fight. He allowed his eyes to follow her gaze-
And then he felt himself shoved roughly to the ground, hearing an arrow whiz angrily past where his heart would have been. He was confused for only an instant as to what had happened as Buffy pushed herself quickly off of him, murmuring a breathless "Are you okay?"
At his short nod she gave him a shove that was just a little too hard, snapping, "Then WATCH yourself!"
"Why should I? You seem to be doing a great job of that for me!" he snapped back, stunned when she recoiled as though slapped before hitting him hard across the face.
"You stupid idiot!" she screamed and he flinched at her uncharacteristic outburst in the middle of battle. "Do you WANT to die?"
"The truth? YES!" he roared. "You try living two hundred and fifty years and tell me you don't!" At her stunned look he lowered his voice, saying more gently, "I- I'm just SO tired, Buffy. I'm ready to go."
"Well I'm not ready to let you!" she declared, shaking with emotion he wished he could understand before she blurted unthinkingly, "And anyway, how moronic can you be? Two hundred fifty years and you don't even know it's impossible to sign away a prophesy? Damn it, Angel! I-"
She snapped her mouth shut as soon as she realized what she had said but it was already too late as he blinked at her in wonder, and her heart nearly shattered at the hope on his face. In that moment, she forgot any doubt she may have had that she was doing the right thing, knowing with total certainty that the sacrifice would be worth the gain as he sputtered-
"You mean…I don't-"
She gave him the warmest smile she could as she rolled her eyes affectionately. "They were just- well, psyching you out. In about-"
"How long have you known?" he cut her off sharply and she looked at him in confusion before understanding hit her.
"About the Shanshu- which we have, by the way, definitely not discussed? 8 hours give or take-" and suddenly she frowned, meeting his eyes. "You could have told me, you know. It would have helped me to wait with some hope-"
"I didn't want you to wait at all," he said briefly, eyes bursting with emotion, and she smiled sadly, saying simply, softly,
"I was, though." She struggled for composure before looking him dead in the eye. "I know it's been hard, and I KNOW that you're tired, but you just need to work for it just a little but longer and then-" she gulped, lowering her eyes before finishing, "We can both be free."
He wanted to kiss her at that moment more than he had ever wanted anything, but seeing the action behind him he locked eyes with her instead, and at her barely perceptible nod launched her, feat first, toward the nearest demon, satisfied as he heard its neck break from the impact.
"I always did fight the best with you there," she shouted over the noise, and he retorted, more to himself than to her,
"Likewise."
--
It was a full hour and at countless casualties on both sides later before Willow and her fellow Wicca's finally succeeded, and Buffy gasped in amazement as the monsters surrounding her froze and well over a hundred slayers, Spike, and Faith came rushing toward her and Angel.
"Where's Illyria?" Angel inquired briefly and Spike looked at him regretfully before answering,
"Saw her go down about twenty minutes ago."
"What's going on, B?" Faith questioned after a brief moment of silence and Buffy looked around in confusion at the immobilized demons, the eerie calm… Okay, I'm not dead and Angel- definitely still Vampire- so that must mean-
"I don't know," Buffy replied uncertainly, looking around with increasing unease, then cringing as the demons suddenly sprang back to life, charging at the group with double their previous violence.
--
Buffy, she suddenly heard Willow's voice in her head as she warily decapitated another demon, they're disintegrating from the inside. If you guys can just hold on for ten more minutes it will all be over-
"Thanks, Will," she said aloud, feeling an emotion she couldn't quite define at the news even as she stepped away from the battle, jumping on top of a dumpster that miraculously held her weight as she screamed loudly, "Everyone listen to me! They're dying and desperate! All we need to do is make it ten more minutes and it's OVER. FOREVER. I have been fighting for longer than any of you and I KNOW it's hard. But I also know that ALL of us can make it ten more minutes. Just FIGHT!"
With a nearly primal cry she launched back into the fray, unsurprised to find herself beside Spike as something occurred to her for the first time.
"Get out of here!" she cried, taking down what looked like a dwarf funny, Giles always said they were a myth down with one particularly vicious punch, confused by where her sudden strength was coming from as she continued, "The sun is about to come up!"
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, jaw set, as he said firmly, "I am NOT leaving you to-"
"You're not leaving me!" she exclaimed vehemently, holding a demon as Spike punched it viciously before plunging a steel sword through its heart as she threw it down. "You're HELPING me. I can't keep going if I don't think you're safe, and-"
He took out a zombie before locking eyes with her, saying softly, "I did love you, pet"
She shot him a melancholy smile. "I know you did," and her voice cracked as she continued, "I loved you too just- not like you deserve."
He shrugged. "Wasn't your fault. I spent a century looking for my equal- just luck of the draw that when I finally found her she'd already met hers." He locked eyes with her, saying slowly, "I'm not sure if this will make what you're about to do easier, but for what it's worth, I don't think you and he would have been happy together anyway, after he- changes. You and he love… ALL of each other, and a big part of him will be… gone after. Maybe- in some SICK way- this is better. Leaves the memory or some such bullocks-"
She looked at him, pain and understanding naked on her face as she whispered, "Thank you," before being sent sprawling to the ground by what looked like a human lion. "Now get out of here!" she screamed, rolling out of the way as a machete came crashing down where her skull would have been.
Spike took one last look at her before turning and running, feeling as though his unbeating heart was broken.
--
Angel could smell the sunrise coming up and for the first time doubted what Buffy had told him about how the night would end. He had seen Spike bolt nearly five minutes ago and knew it couldn't be long before his own death, one way or another… Shaking off the vague feeling of unease he couldn't quite place, he lunged for the nearest demon with a vengeance, vowing that even if he did only have a few more minutes on Earth he was going to make them count-
In the coming years Angel would replay the subsequent fifteen seconds in his mind more times than he could count and still never quite be able to remember what it was like to live them. Two demons simultaneously lunging at him, the sound of more gunfire from Xander's sector, Buffy's frantic "ANGEL! LOOK OUT!" The realization, half a second too late, that a stake had been launched at his heart from behind him, the acceptance of the fact that he was going to die- and Buffy's sharp cry of anguish as she dove between it and him at the last possible instant, his horror as he realized in some moment of bizarre, primal understanding that it had been embedded into her internal organs- that she was going to die- at the same second that demons began exploding all around him into beautiful balls of sparkling fire, looking surreal, and he suddenly felt like he was on fire too, collapsing to his knees in agony as the demon was ripped from him and, for the first time in two hundred and twenty two years (not counting an exquisite day that never occurred) he felt his heart beating.
--
Buffy felt blinding pain and then- nothing, just a surreal and unexpected calm, and in that moment she knew, absolutely, that she was dying. From somewhere to her left she heard Angel cry out in what sounded like pain and she wondered blearily if he was dying too, after all this, prayed that if he was she would never have to know as the sky lit up around her, half from the early morning sun and half from the sparkling fire the demons were still giving off- and then, suddenly, arms she would have needed to be dead not to recognize were around her and they were… warm-
"Angel," she whispered weakly, forcing her eyes open and seeing his concerned face, the hundreds of conflicting emotions playing across it, only half of which she had ever seen there before and even fewer of which she was sure she understood- "Are you- oh god, is it over? Is everyone okay?"
He nodded tightly and to her horror she realized he was blinking back tears and reached a hand upward to caress his face, stunned when she was too weak to do so, gasping at the sudden jolt of pain as he pulled her gracelessly closer. "Oh god," she murmured, closing her eyes again just to feel the sensation more strongly, "Oh god, I can feel your heartbeat."
"Buffy," he managed brokenly and she forced her eyes open again, trying to smile, but instead, wholly against her will, let out something halfway between a sob and a moan, gasping,
"I don't want to go- I wanted to go for so long, but now- it's not fair, it's just not enough time- why could we never have enough time?"
"You're not leaving me," he choked out and to her horror she felt his tears landing on her face or are they mine, wished she could think of something unselfish to do, unselfish to say-
"Please don't," she whispered. "It was worth it. All of it-" the world blurred around her for a second and she asked a higher power she had never fully believed in for just a few moments more, the chance to say- "Did I tell you I love you earlier?"
He shook his head in the negative as his whole body trembled and she managed a weak smile. "I do." Her smile was replaced by a look of wonder, however, as the early morning sunlight streaked across his face, making his eyes look lighter, his face look, if it were possible, even more perfect- "Oh god," she moaned. "You look- so-" before her eyes fluttered shut, a small, content smile the last expression to cross her face.
--
The End…
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