Bring Me to Life

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel Crossover Event

Part 69

Interlude - Hello


Hello, it's me

I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet

To go over everything

They say that time's supposed to heal ya, but I ain't done much healing

Hello, can you hear me?

I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be

When we were younger and free

I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

There's such a difference between us

And a million miles

Hello from the other side

I must've called a thousand times

To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done

But when I call, you never seem to be home

Hello from the outside

At least I can say that I've tried

To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart

But it don't matter, it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore

- "Hello", Adele


Sunnydale, California - Market Street

12:41 a.m.

Days Left Before the End of Days: 9


Feeling angry, distressed, and just…just angry…Buffy had opted to take the long way home.

She knew that walking alone in Sunnydale at night, especially lately, was taking one's own life into their hands, but she was just beyond caring at the moment.

Between Caleb having turned her into a morbid pinata, finding her kid sister and those underage Potentials drunk and trading punches with Faith, all in the span of a few hours, Buffy felt like everything was spinning out of control. She no longer had a grip on things, and she was beginning to realize that she hadn't had that grip in a while. Things had gotten bad before, but she could barely remember them being this bad. The only time she could remember them being this bad was when Glory had kidnapped Dawn two years ago. That failure compounded with the loss of her mother, the weight of the world on her shoulders and having gone through so much to protect her had led to her breaking down into a catatonic state.

Since she had…come back…last year, she had been working on herself over the past summer, working on finding ways to prevent that from happening again. She looked up meditation, breathing exercises, calming techniques, anything to help her get a grip on the crazy world around her. The last thing she wanted was to slip back into that useless state of being, especially now, when all of reality was at stake. With Angel gone and their rekindling relationship now in ruins, Spike taking off, Connor still missing, The First with the Keystone in its possession, Caleb having arrived on the scene and causing mayhem, Dawn having gotten drunk and her allies questioning her decisions and her ability to lead lately, she felt like things were dangerously close to her spiraling out of control again.

So she closed her eyes for a moment, worked on breathing as she walked down the street alone. Take a deep breath in…slowly let it out…deep breath in…slowly let it out….inhale…exhale…

For a moment, she felt it work, felt her stress leave just for a bit, felt her mind clear just a tad…

…So, of course, that's when she heard the screaming.

"HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!"

It was a man's voice. And he sounded like he was definitely in need of help.

Alert on instinct, Buffy ran towards the sound of that voice.

She turned the corner, where she found a man in the jaws of a vampire, the demon biting down hard on his neck. He was starting to go pale from the blood loss, Buffy could immediately see that. Around the vampire were three other vamps, all in biker gang clothing, torn jeans and leather vests and the like paraphernalia.

Her anger rising, Buffy quickly decided to spring into action.

"You know, those late night carbs are just going to go straight to your hips, guys," she quipped, grabbing a nearby trash can lid and throwing it at the vampire chowing down on the man. It connected solidly with his skull, forcing him to drop his meal to the ground, where the man lay bleeding and slumped over.

"Well, well, well," the same vampire, obviously the leader, sneered at her as the gang slowly circled around Buffy, giving her nowhere to go. He leered at Buffy's lovely, toned body, which gave her the wiggins. "What do we have here? Amidst the desert of this civilization, look what we came across…a beautiful, delicate flower for us to pluck."

Buffy waited until he got just a little closer…

Then she smirked…

"Pluck you."

POW!

…And then she decked him hard in the face with a right cross punch, the force sending him staggering back.

The show of power stunned the vampires. Buffy loved this part. She reached into her jacket and whipped out her stake, her late friend Kendra's trusty Mr. Pointy. It had killed a ton of vampires over the years between its service to both Slayers. It had become an object of legend among the demon underworld, known for its strangely jagged edges. As Buffy held the deadly weapon in her hand, the vampires realized in dread who they were dealing with.

"It's her! The Slayer!" one of them blurted out. "It's Buffy freakin' Summers, man!"

Buffy responded with a swift Savate frontal kick to his face. "Please, guys. No autographs. Not really in the mood for fans tonight."

She twisted around and nailed another with a spinning back kick. "Not that I don't appreciate the following…" she glibly quipped.

Another tried to grab her, only for Buffy to backflip effortlessly over him. "But then I have to deal with the paparazzi, and then TMZ shows up, and a girl's gotta keep her rep in this town…"

And then she plunged the stake right through the back of the same vampire, immediately turning him to dust. "...but thanks for showing up. I couldn't do what I do without fans like you. Drive safe, catch me at the next show!"

"You think you're funny, Slayer?" the lead vampire snarled as he threw clumsy punches at her. Buffy ducked every one of them, almost effortlessly.

"Well, hey, I mean, I know I'm no Sarah Silverman, but come on, that paparazzi thing was pretty clever, you gotta give me that!" Buffy mockingly argued, striking him in the ribs with a series of well-timed roundhouse Muay Thai kicks as she created distance while she spun in the air and nailed a second one with another vicious kick in the mouth.

She never gave that one a chance to recover, thrusting her stake forward in the bat of an eyelash and thrusting it through his sternum. As it pierced his heart, the demon looked at her dumbly. "I just got staked by Buffy the Vampire Slayer," he uttered in awe, like he had just gotten his basketball autographed by Kobe Bryant rather than gotten sent to a second death by the Scourge of the Underworld herself.

And as he collapsed into dust, he muttered his final words. "So cool."

Buffy turned to the third one with a deadly smirk. "Please. Hold your applause," she preened, looking ever beautiful and deadly as her stories had made her out to be.

As she kicked and punched the third one while holding the leader at bay, Buffy had to admit this was feeling pretty cathartic. She had really been in the mood to hit someone, something. And these idiot vampires were just what the doctor ordered.

"You're gonna die tonight, Slay–urk!" the third one's threat got caught in his throat as Buffy's punch to his gut cut him off.

"Not 'Slay-urk', moron. 'Slay-er'," Buffy chided him. "With that kind of sloppiness to detail, you're never gonna be the president of my fan club."

At that, she plunged her stake forward again, finding its heart. And another one bit the dust. Quite literally.

That left only the lead vamp. Buffy smirked at him wickedly. "Aww, what's wrong, Hell's Angels? That flower you tried to pluck giving you more pricks than you can handle?"

The leader looked unsure of himself for a moment, no crew to back him up.

"Word of advice? I suggest you take up a different hobby instead of gardening," Buffy sweetly suggested to him as she twirled the deadly stake in her hand. "Try bowling, for instance. I mean, the shoes are ugly as hell, but with that outfit, would it really make a difference?"

Suddenly finding his courage, the lead vamp sneered. "So you're the great Buffy Summers, huh? Heard about you, girl. A hot piece of ass and a badass with that stake. They say you're probably the greatest Slayer to ever live. But if that were really true…then how come you couldn't protect this town?"

Buffy's smile faltered, that comment hitting home.

"That's right. The word's out, little girl," the vampire taunted. "Word on the grapevine says there's a new power in town. The Thing the Darkness Fears, they call it…pretty soon, this place is gonna be crawling with my kind from Kingman's Bluff down to the West End of town. The End of Days is coming, Slayer, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

Buffy scowled, gripping her stake harder. She got set to pounce, shifting her fighting stance into her final kill formation.

"Kill me? Kill a hundred of me!" the vampire railed at her defiantly. He knew this was it for him, but he was determined to go out with a bang. "Go ahead! It'll make no difference. More of us will come! More of us always do! You can't stop the coming darkness, Slayer! What was it that legend called you? 'The One Girl in All the World', right? That's why you'll lose! That's why you'll die! You and all your loved ones! You are one where I am a thousand!"

In one last act, he sprinted towards Buffy in berserk desperation.

Buffy watched…waited…

And then she kicked him into his Harley Davidson, the collision accidentally turning on the radio to the sound of that annoying "Carry on Wayward Son" song by Kansas, which she hated. It only served to piss her off even more.

"One down…" she muttered darkly, readying her stake…

And then she plunged it into the lead vampire's chest, the vampire staring numbly at her before it exploded into a cloud of ash and dust.

Satisfied, Buffy tucked the stake expertly back into her jacket. "...Nine hundred and ninety-nine to go."

As she walked over to the man, she absently smashed the radio with that Kansas song still playing, the sound instantly dying as it got quiet on the streets again. God, that band sucks, she thought in annoyance.

Buffy kneeled down, tending to the wounded, bloodied man. "It's okay, they're gone. You're safe now," she quickly assured him.

But Buffy could see that was a lie. He was anything but safe. He was losing a lot of blood. And the hospitals had been emptied. No emergency personnel were coming, no ambulance on the way.

"Too…too late…" the man smiled sadly at her, coughing as he clutched at his bloodied neck wound. "But…thank you…"

Buffy hurriedly tried to put pressure on the wound. "Just…just hold still, we're gonna get you help, okay?"

Maybe if I call Gunn, he could swing by in his truck. Or-or-or Giles can help him. Or Willow, Buffy frantically thought as she ran down her dwindling options on how to save this man's life. A life that was her responsibility to protect. There has to be something I can do, I can't just let him die!

The man shook his head. "No…No, I can feel it," he weakly rasped out. "I…I don't have much time."

Buffy shook her head, not understanding. "They evacuated the town, what were you even doing here?" she asked, confused.

"...my…My wife and…kids…I had them…leave town first…" he explained between coughs. "...But we….needed…some personal things…my daughter…she left her…favorite stuffed teddy bear…wouldn't stop…crying, so I…I came to get it back…but then these…things…came out of nowhere. They were like…animals…"

Buffy bit her lip, felt her eyes water. This poor man, not too much older than her mother was, was just trying to be a good father, trying to give her daughter her toy back just so she wouldn't be sad anymore…and he was about to pay with his life for it. It wasn't fair, she thought in misery.

The dying man continued, "But you stopped them…thank you…"

Buffy was all sorts of confused. "You're thanking me? But I…I got here too late," she argued, getting angry at herself. "If I had just been here a few seconds earlier…"

"Doesn't…matter now…" the man weakly smiled. He reached up and cupped Buffy's cheek tenderly. "You're a…pretty girl…not much…older than…my eldest daughter…"

Buffy could only nod, blinking back the tears.

"You helped other people by doing what…you did…they won't be able to…hurt…anyone else…" the man said gratefully. "They were…afraid of you, right?"

Buffy nodded again.

"You…can stop them?" he asked.

Buffy nodded once more, her lips quivering as she listened to the dying man.

"Then…you will," the man weakly smiled at her. "You're…a hero. I can…tell…you're going to do…great things…" He coughed again. "You're…a hero…never…forget that…never…forg…"

And then he went still, his eyes growing vacant as the final spark of life escaped him.

Buffy silently held him for a few moments, grieving the man in his family's stead. Her lips were quivering, a silent tear rolling down her cheek as she closed his eyes for him in respect.

I let him die, she thought guiltily. If I was only here a few minutes earlier. Just a few minutes. He'd still be alive. His daughter would still have her father. His wife would still have her husband. But I let him down. Like Xander. Like that kid Matthew. Like those girls I was supposed to protect from The First and Caleb. Like Dawn. Like Faith…like Connor…like…

like Angel…

It was too much.

Just too much.

As she stood and walked away, Buffy felt her breathing becoming erratic. Tried her breathing exercises, but nothing was helping. Her breathing just got choppier, angrier, more desperate. She felt herself spiraling. Again. She felt the Slayer in her fighting, desperately trying to take control, take the wheel, put her emotions to the back and just do what she had to do to survive. But Buffy refused to relinquish the wheel, leaving her emotional bus spinning and tail spinning out of control and about to crash hard.

That void, the empty place where she once slipped into after Glory, called for her. Beckoned her to give in. To give up. To just accept her defeat and embrace the comforting solitude of empty catatonic bliss…

NO!

She found herself slipping against the wall, desperately fighting back that urge. Not wanting to give in. Refusing to give in. But she was drowning. She could feel it. She needed something, anything to pull her back. To keep her alive…

Absently, before she even realized what she was doing, her fingers slipped onto her phone, pressed the automatic dialing button for her emergency contacts. There was one number in particular that she dialed.

'Calling: ANGEL', the screen read.

But it went straight to voicemail. Her heart sunk. "Hi, this is Angel. I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a name, number and a brief message, I'll return your call as soon as possible," his soothing voice echoed in the receiver. "Remember…I'm always here to help."

At the sound of the beep, Buffy took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment.

Then she began to pour her heart out, slumping down onto the ground until she was sitting on the lonely street corner of an empty Sunnydale.

"Angel? It's…it's Buffy," she began shakily. "I…I know you're probably busy right now. With the sword thing, and the…trials and all that…I really hope you're still alive. It's probably a bad time, but…but then again, time was never really on our side, was it?"

She laughed a watery laugh, trying her best to keep it together right now. "I just…I just really needed to hear your voice, you know? There was…it's been…" She paused for a moment. "It's been bad here…so bad. This guy, Caleb, he's…he's way more powerful than I thought. I just fought him twice and he…he nearly killed me. The worst part of it is that he's coming after my friends. He…he already blinded Xander, he nearly killed Dawn. He…he tortured Faith for God knows how long, and I just left her there, and I shouldn't have, and…And I've been screwing up so much. I…"

She paused, hesitating for a moment before she continued. "I think I'm the reason why Connor ran away from home. I know…I know…I was supposed to protect him. And instead I did the opposite. He's out there, alone, he's just a kid, and I…God, I messed up. And now tonight, I caught Dawn drinking outside with Faith, and there were cops, and there was fighting, and…God, it's all a mess. Faith and I almost started fighting again. I didn't mean to, but I was so angry, and I…"

She paused again, shakily. "And there was this…this guy I ran into after the Bronze fight…he was…he was just trying to get his daughter's favorite toy back. That's all he wanted, Angel…just to make his daughter happy. The whole town's falling apart, everyone has evacuated, yet this guy was still just trying to be a good dad…" She stopped again, feeling another tear roll down her cheek. "If I had just gotten there sooner, I could've saved him. I tried to save him, Angel, I swear, but I couldn't. I didn't. I was too late. Again. I'm always too late."

Buffy closed her eyes, shutting them as she felt another tear roll down her cheek. "I was too late to stop you from losing your soul. Too late to save mom. Too late to save Tara. Or Miss Calendar. Or Kendra. Too late to save Matthew. Too late to help Xander. Or Dawnie. Or Faith. Or the Potentials, like Shannon Jones. Or that poor dad who died in my arms. I'm always too fucking late. I'm the Slayer, this is my job, but I'm never in time when it matters, am I?"

She leaned her head against her hand, anguish coming out of her, and desperation. "Everyone's counting on me, and I know that I'm supposed to be able to do this, but at the end of the day, I'm not some great hero, I'm not the Chosen One, I'm just…I'm just me. And I'm scared, and sad, and alone, and angry, and freaking out and crying and I'm…I just…"

She gave up trying to fight it, more tears spilling down from her heartbroken eyes. "I just miss you. And I need you, Angel. God, I really, really need you right now. And I know, I said I was done with you and I, and I tried to do the right thing, to stay away, give you your space because you can't be with me, but I…I can't do this. I can't do this alone! I can't! I…can't…"

She knew how weak she sounded. Hated how weak she sounded. But she didn't care anymore. She was too tired, too hurt, too broken to care. She felt so lost, like she was losing her mind. She wasn't the mighty Slayer at that moment, she was only a young woman, in over her head, lost and scared and desperately needing the one person in the world that she wanted to be with more than anything. "I just…I love you. So much. God, I hate how much I love you sometimes. I know, you're off busy being a big hero, trying to save us, and I get that you have another life now, and you don't need me to pile on to your problems, but I just…I just…I don't think I can do this anymore. I don't think I can handle it. People I love are dying, people around me are dying, they need me to be a hero, to be some great leader, but I'm no leader! I'm just messed up and screwing up and scared, and lonely, and this world is so messed up, where you're not with me, and my mom is gone and my own dad doesn't even care, and Giles and I are growing apart, and my sister and I are fighting, and I can't protect my friends, and things out there are trying to kill me, and the end of the world is coming, and I…I…I just miss you, Angel. I'll never stop missing you. Please...just…just pick up the phone."

Her soft, broken plea was met only with silence.

More tears came down her face, her breathing starting to grow ragged from the force of her attempt to hold back, choke back a sob. "Say something!", she all but shouted, before her voice grew quieter, more pleading. "Please…say something…Angel, I—"

"The mailbox is full and cannot accept any new messages at this time. Goodbye!"

Then the phone went dead.

Buffy couldn't hold it back anymore. She let her head fall into her right hand, closed her eyes and let her emotions spill out of her. Trembled as she cried on an empty street. Alone.

Alone like she had been since she was first Called.

Alone like she always was.

She thought she couldn't feel any more overwhelmed, any lonelier than this.

Her heart, her soul silently whispered one single word, one single name, one single plea to the universe as the brave heroine silently called out for help.

'Angel…'


London, England

The same time


Angel felt it.

As he was staring blankly outside the window of a moving car that Markus Fray had sent to his location, Angel in the backseat while Lindsey drove and Kate sat shotgun, he had been focused on nothing but this mission.

To stop Walter Kindel, the Homewrecker Killer. To save that girl's life, rescue his friends and to get back home where he was needed. He went full silent brood, mentally tuning out all distractions, running down the list of things he needed to do to successfully pull off this mission against a dangerous enemy.

Then suddenly…

'Angel…'

He had heard it.

Felt it.

It was like a beacon call, a gong, a church bell, calling down from his heart to his very soul itself. He felt it in every fiber of his being.

It was a cry for help. From a voice he knew.

A voice he'd know anywhere.

A voice he'd know if he'd gone deaf.

A voice he loved...

At the same time, his phone, which had gone silent due to the bad reception in the last town, suddenly pinged. He pulled it out, read the screen.

"You have one new message!" The screen cheerily informed him. "Missed call: BUFFY"

If Angel's heart could have skipped a beat, it would have. His eyes softened, his mind suddenly blanking to anything else.

"Buffy," he whispered reverently, surprised, worried.

That's what that feeling in his soul was, he realized. The woman he loved had needed him. Had tried to call him. But as always, he was too damn far away to help, he silently cursed himself, cursed Fray, cursed Kindel for keeping him from the one he loved most of all.

He could sense it in his being, even before he could play the message. She was hurting. Scared. She needed help.

She needed him.

I'm coming, Buffy, Angel swore silently, closing his eyes. I'll be there, beloved. Just hold on. I'm coming back. For you? I'll always come back…

He pressed the button for his voicemail, like Cordelia had spent hours and hours teaching him to.

"Angel? It's…it's Buffy," he heard her soft, sad voice.

And he listened to every word of the message.

Every heartbreaking word…


To Be Continued…


Next: "Empty Places" reaches its conclusion. Tempers flare as Buffy's decisions are called into question. And Angel gets ready to face a deadly serial killer with more power than he can imagine. What consequences will these actions bring for our heroes with the End of Days looming?


I wasn't planning on writing this, but with the lack of Buffy/Angel interaction and action in the last chapter, I thought it would be better to post this as a stand-alone chapter. So for all the Bangel shippers dying for their fix out there, ya boy's got you hooked up. ;) lol

Next chapter coming soon! Until then, please read, follow and review! Later!

Best,

Jean-theGuardian