A/N Some readers might think the mantis' have gotten off light and even been rewarded instead of punished so I'll explain my thinking before I start getting backlash over it. There's a lot of sympathy for Angel and Spike from the audience, but even with the soul and chip, respectively, they do terrible things and are never held accountable and are forgiven, by both Buffy and the audience, repeatedly. In a previous story I noted how Joss said he wrote them to be as unlikable as possible because he was trying to write a show where vampires were straight up monsters and he never wanted Buffy involved with any vampires. While characters like the mantis and Ampata are labeled monsters and just being killed is considered justifiable. But the mantis was answering a biological imperative and may not have ever known there were potential options. It's not like anyone on the show takes the time to ask, just figures out a way to kill her and considers it a job well done.

Ampata on the other hand was desperate to live after being imprisoned against her will for five centuries, a sacrifice. Kind of like the Slayer might be. Neither were ever given a chance and had far more right to one than Angel or Spike. In my Grimm stories I explored a potential option for saving the mummy girl, in this one I explored an option for saving the mantis. Ampata, on the show, actually did express remorse for her actions, but she was so desperate to live that she was still willing to kill. I think if they'd offered her the smallest bit of hope, she'd have taken it and never looked back.

Joss was big on metaphors, maybe Ampata was a metaphor for Buffy and her situation, a commentary on no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't escape the prison of being the Slayer.

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"So, date going well, Buffy?" Willow asked her friend after she and Owen took a break from a dance and Owen was getting them drinks.

"Very well, I'm having fun, it's hard to know if Owen is having fun though, he really doesn't talk much. Unless it's about poetry or the pain of life. He's deep, he thinks deep thoughts."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself." Willow pointed out.

"Gods, I'm afraid I am. He's so cute! And deep, but honestly, I don't want to talk about pain and death! Don't I get enough of that with my unavoidable job?"

"So not the date you were hoping for?"

"No." Buffy said grumpily. "When we're on the dance floor he doesn't talk, but he doesn't want to dance, he wants to talk about all the deep stuff he finds so fascinating and I'm not finding it fascinating. On the other hand, I've noticed someone checking you out."

"Me?!" Willow squeaked.

"Yes, you. Is that really such a surprise, Willow? The only reason no one noticed you before is because you were hiding your light under a bushel. Almost literally in the case of your clothes. If you'd changed your wardrobe years ago guys would have been noticing you long before now. But you made no effort to accept that Alex had no interest in you, while doing nothing to try to get his or anyone else's attention. You've been scared, Willow. Scared of living and you've been hiding. Hiding behind a crush that never went anywhere and hiding behind awful clothes. You're so enthusiastic about learning new things, but you never made the effort to learn things that would actually help you. You could have been popular all these years too, just like Alex, but it never occured to you to try."

"I guess it didn't." Willow frowned. "Why didn't it occur to me? Maybe the willful avoidance spell? Maybe it made it easy for me to just believe that was all there was for me and not consider anything else. But in the last month alone I've worked on getting over my crush on Alex, made a new friend, you and gotten a new wardrobe. And my life hasn't come crashing down by trying new things. Who's checking me out?"

"The guy playing the guitar on stage, it's like he can't take his eyes off you. He likes what he sees."

"Really?" A pleased smile crossed Willow's lips, the hint of color from the subtle lipstick making them look a bit plumper than normal, Buffy noted. It was a nice look for Willow, noting that Willow blushed again. 'Something else that looks good on her.' Buffy thought.

"Yes, take a peek out of the corner of your eyes, he's looking this way and it's not me he's looking at."

Willow did as Buffy instructed snd saw the short but cute guy with dyed neon green hair and he did seem to be looking at her. "What do I do?" She asked.

"Wander over to the stage and maybe when he takes a break he'll take the opportunity to talk to you. That way you're leaving it up to him, while showing him you are interested."

"Okay, I'll do that. And you?"

"Try to get Owen back out on the dance floor, otherwise this date will need to called on account of boring."

Buffy missed the fact that another brooding, obsessed with death, male was watching her longingly from the shadows of the Bronze. But than she couldn't really sense Angel even when she wasn't distracted and in a crowd.