Life; Version 2.0
by Kirayoshi
I Was So Much Older Then...
[reviews]
Chapter Two
I Was So Much Older Then...
"Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
Proud 'neath my heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now.
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now."
--Bob Dylan
"My Back Pages"
Five friends sat in silence in the library, waiting for their missing members.
Cordelia stared hard at the library door, echoes of Willow's outburst still ringing in her ears. The girl she had delighted in tormenting for as long as they knew each other was simply not there. In her place was a stronger, sadder young woman, one who had borne a terrible burden. One who could easily destroy Cordy if she displeased her. She began to look upon Willow Rosenberg with a newfound respect, and no small fear.
Xander felt the dark fire in his gut ebb and recede, his ever-present anger at Angelus for hurting Buffy and Willow slowly being replaced by an abiding concern for his childhood friend. Oz kept his own thoughts private, quietly sharing in Xander's concern for his girlfriend. They both realized that she had seen so much in her lifetime, so much that she wanted to reverse. Xander bitterly cursed the future events that would rob his sweet Willow of her smile, of her innocence.
Rupert Giles and Jenny Calendar sat next to each other at the other side of the table, their hands touching gently under the table. Without words, they somehow managed to connect in a way that had eluded them since the terrible day when Angelus reemerged. They sat apart from the others, silently asking for and receiving forgiveness for the miscommunications that led to their previous estrangement.
Finally, twenty minutes after Willow ran from the library with Buffy in pursuit, the two young women returned to the library, the Slayer's strong arms supporting Willow's shuddering frame. Buffy guided Willow to her chair, taking the seat next to hers. Oz glanced at the sad young redhead, questions forming behind his eyes. "You okay, honey?" he asked.
Willow shook her head slowly, wiping the last of her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt. "Not yet, Oz," she answered, "but I'm getting there."
Oz considered offering his hand to Willow, but decided against the action. He remembered Willow's tirade before she fled, specifically something about having lost a woman she loved. Glancing at the redhead's sad eyes, he recognized the truth in them; whatever was in the future, he realized with a deep sorrow, their relationship was effectively over. "Be happy, Willow," he whispered gently, gratified to see a faint trace of a smile play at her mouth. "You've earned it."
"Thanks," Willow said simply, before turning her attention to the others at the table. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I guess I've been through the wringer big-time. Or will be through the wringer, or...Man, nothing screws up grammar faster than time-travel!"
Buffy gave a quick sigh of relief; at least her tendency to babble was still there. She vowed privately to do whatever it took to assure Willow that their friendship was still solid. Whatever Willow would go through in the future, she wouldn't go through it alone. "Don't sweat it, Willow," Buffy answered, her smile a benediction for her friend. Turning to the others, she said, "Okay, which direction do we go with the whole Angel's soul issue?"
Xander opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. After his earlier attempt at glibness drove Willow into a state of outrage, he didn't wish to hurt her any further. Finally he spoke, measuring his words carefully; "As much as my normal response to anything Deadboy is 'Faster Pussycat, kill, kill', if we can re-soul him quickly, we would probably save ourselves thirty-one flavors of angst down the line."
Willow nodded sagely. "I know you probably won't buy this," she observed, "but down the road Angel will be a force for good. After we graduated, he left for Los Angeles and started a detective firm. Last I heard, he was doing pretty well." She glanced briefly at Cordy, noticing the way that she kept glancing between her and Xander. She debated whether she should inform Cordy about her part in Angel's future, finally deciding not to reveal that facet of the future. Somehow, telling too much didn't seem right. Just enough to change the bad stuff, she reasoned.
Giles removed his glasses and wiped them with his pocket handkerchief. "It strikes me as a risky plan, but perhaps Willow is right. If we do restore his soul, we must do so quickly. The longer Angelus remains in control, the greater the havoc he could wreak."
"You're not wrong," Willow muttered. "But if we pull this off, we'll prevent him from raising Acaltha, and save ourselves a world of grief." Turning back toward Buffy, she said silently, "Don't worry, Buffy, we'll get your boyfriend back."
Buffy gave Willow a wistful smile. "First we'll get him back. Then we'll decide whether he's still my boyfriend. Okay gang," she returned to the matter at hand. "How do we deal with Angel? Willow said something about this Orb thing..."
"The Orb of Thesuleh, yeah," Willow answered.
"Right," Buffy agreed. "Miss Calendar, can you do the spell?"
"If Willow can tell me where she found it in the first place," Jenny answered solemnly. "But it occurs to me, we should at least know where Angelus is when I cast the spell. For our safety as well as his."
"Well, he'll be here at the school tonight," Willow answered. "In the computer lab, actually. He'll try to kill Jenny, to keep her from restoring his soul."
Giles felt a familiar dread creep up on him, a clammy chill running down his back. "How did she survive this encounter?"
Willow sat silently, her eyes riveted to the table in front of her. Noticing Willow's downcast expression, Jenny answered, "Evidently I didn't." Giles shuddered briefly, but Jenny hastily added, "But hey, forewarned is forearmed and all that. If he expects me in my classroom, I won't disappoint him!"
"No, absolutely not!" Giles barked suddenly. "I will not let you sacrifice yourself to stop Angelus! "
"Rupert," Jenny answered calmly, "I'm not about to go in there unarmed. I'll be ready for him."
"Correction, Miss Calendar," Buffy answered. "We'll be ready for him. You're not going in there without back-up."
"Besides," Willow added, "we need at least three of us to cast the spell."
"Okay, so Giles, Miss Calendar, Willow and Cordy'll do the orb thing," Buffy suggested, "while Xander, Oz and I flush out Angelus."
"A well-reasoned plan, Buffy," Giles admitted. "I'm not sanguine about using you as bait, however, Jenny."
"Just remember, Rupert," Jenny flashed her beloved a sly smile, "this worm bites back."
"Well, we got our fourth period classes next," Buffy announced as she stood up from the table and clutched her backpack. "So we meet at the library at five-thirty, and get prepped for tonight."
"Sounds good," Xander agreed, as Oz nodded in silent accord. As they glanced toward Cordy, the cheerleader made a wry face, and finally conceded. "Good thing there's no cheerleading practice tonight. I'll run by the Krispy Kreme after school. Uh, you still like those chocolate cream-filled jobs, Willow?"
Willow nodded once. Giles quipped dryly, "I'm sure we're all grateful for your sacrifice, Cordelia."
As the others filed out of the school library, Buffy gave Willow a reassuring hug. "Don't worry, Will," she promised. "It'll be all right."
"I hope," the redhead answered. Glancing back toward Giles, she added, "Oh, if it helps anyone, I have a ritual to uninvite vampires."
Giles raised an eyebrow in surprise at Willow's statement. "Are you certain it will work?"
"It worked last time," Willow answered cryptically. Giles stared at Willow for a second, before returning his attention to Jenny. The young computer teacher nodded knowingly, saying, "This will take some getting used to."
Buffy gave Willow one last gentle squeeze, before turning to Jenny. Her posture was rigid and straight, her face was an unreadable mask. "Oh, and Miss Calendar," she spoke in a strangely cold, level tone of voice, "if you're feeling bad about all this..." Willow stood by pensively, remembering what Buffy had said to Jenny the last time she witnessed this scene.
Buffy sagged her shoulders, a faintly repentant cast lighting on her features. "You're not the only one. I'm sorry for giving you grief. Thanks, for everything."
"Wait until tonight," Jenny nodded. "If this works, then you can thank me." As Buffy smiled gratefully at the young computer teacher, Jenny felt a strange relief, as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Not quite absolution, she didn't feel that she's earned it yet for hiding the truth from Buffy. But still, the beginnings of absolution, from both Buffy and Rupert.
Willow, for her part, felt an even greater relief. Already, her presence in the past was making things better. Jenny and Giles were working on reconciliation, and Buffy wasn't angry at Jenny anymore. For the first time since she found herself back in Jenny's house, reliving her past, she felt a rightness of her situation. She was meant to be here. She didn't know what her purpose in being here was, but she knew she had a purpose.
For now, that was enough.
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Moonlight filtered through the windows of the school, casting long and mysterious shadows over the lockers and classroom doors. Not for the first time, Jenny Calendar wondered why virtually every public building in Sunnydale seemed constructed for the purpose of instilling fear in the populous. The computer lab wasn't as gothic in its lighting, but after hours the fluorescent tubes in the ceiling still made her uneasy.
The fact that she was about to come face to face with the monster who had terrorized her clan over a century ago, and according to Willow had killed her in a different time and place, didn't ease her apprehensions.
The glass orb sat on the desk beside her as she tapped her fingers against the keyboard. Her eyes scanned the lines on her monitor as she searched and cross-referenced various on-line entries regarding the 'Orb of Thesuleh'. "C'mon, c'mon," she urged the school computer, as the vital program she was downloading slowly compiled.
Finally, the download bar reached 100%, and the ancient words appeared on her monitor. She smiled, relief flooding her being, as she popped a blank disc into the drive to save the document. She then hit the 'print' tab, and sighed with relief as the printer began to spit out its precious hard copy. "That's it," she grinned, "This is gonna work. This...will work."
She spun around in her task-chair, stopping suddenly at the sight of the foul thing that had once been a trusted ally sitting in the back of the classroom. Right on cue, Angelus, she thought darkly. Let's hope this works. She lost her grin quickly, a faint fear tingeing her features. "Angel..." she greeted the vampire as she moved away from the computer and toward the door."How did you get in here?"
"I was invited," Angelus smiled. "The sign in front of the school... 'Formatia trans sicere educatorum'."
"'Enter all ye who seek knowledge'," Jenny translated. So far you're right on the money, Willow.
"What can I say?" the fiend giggled as he rose from his seat. "I'm a knowledge seeker."
"Angel," Jenny stammered. Her fear wasn't feigned, but she put up as brave a front as she could. Keep talking, Janna, keep him busy. "I-I-I've got good news."
"I heard. You went shopping at the local boogedy-boogedy store." He picked up the glass object on her desk and toyed with it between his fingers. "The Orb of Thesulah. If memory serves, this is supposed to summon a person's soul... from the ether... store it until it can be transferred." He paused, eyeing the sphere once more. "You know what I hate most about these things?"
Angelus hurled the orb hard into the chalkboard behind Jenny, hard enough to cause her to nearly jump out of her skin. The orb shattered like a fragmentation grenade, a cloud of dust in its wake. He regarded Jenny again, his smile replaced with a snarl. "They're so damn fragile. Must be that shoddy gypsy craftsmanship, huh?"
Angelus circled toward Jenny, backing away from the beast trying to make it to the door before he could strike. "I never cease to be amazed how much the world has changed in just two and a half centuries," he sneered to the frightened young teacher as she reached for the door. Make it look good, she admonished herself. "It's a miracle to me. You put the secrets to restoring my soul in here..." He pushed the computer off her of desk and onto the floor, cracking the hard-drive and shattering the monitor in a display of sparks. "It comes out here." He ripped the paper out of the printer, reading the front pages. "'The Ritual of Restoration.' Wow. This, this brings back memories." He tore the pages cleanly in half from top to bottom.
"Wait," Jenny shouted, "That's your..."
"Oh, my cure?" Angelus barked mirthlessly. "No, thanks. Been there, done that, and deja vu just isn't what it used to be."
The door beside Jenny burst open, splintering at its hinges, and the Slayer shoulder-rolled her way into the lab, water balloons in her hands. "In that case," Buffy announced, "you ever watch Monty Python? And now, for something completely different!" Buffy hurled her first balloon, scoring a direct hit on Angelus's chest. She witnessed his pain at the touch of holy water with a grim satisfaction.
Jenny gasped a sigh of relief. "What took you so long?"
"Had to make sure that Giles' computer completed the download," Buffy answered with feigned sweetness. Angelus moaned in agony as he rose to his feet. Then Buffy's words registered and Angelus began to feel something he wasn't accustomed to. Fear.
Jenny smirked as she recognized the fear that lit Angelus's dark eyes. "You're right, Angel, it is a miracle. Even more so, I can send the information to as many computers as I have email addresses. The library, Willow, the members of my online circle, all with a few keystrokes."
"Yeah, right," Angelus glared painfully at the gypsy woman, desperately summoning his bravado to cover his fear. "Too bad you don't have the Orb anymore."
"You mean the paperweight in Giles' office?" Jenny asked in mock-innocence. "Surely you don't mean the glass ball you just broke. I picked that up at the Everything's-a-Dollar store."
"You...miserable...BITCH!" the enraged vampire spat his words venomously, lurching toward the teacher. "I'll tear your head off of your neck!"
"Not before you go through me, Angelus," Buffy stepped between the vampire and his intended victim, a freshly carved stake in her hands. "Miss Calendar," she whispered to the computer teacher, "you're wanted in the library." Jenny took her cue and dodged away from the enraged vampire. Angelus grasped at Jenny as she retreated, only to have Buffy block his arm, pushing him aside. "Oh no you don't! What say we step outside?"
Angelus regarded Buffy with a feral sneer, his eyes flashing fire. "You think you can take me, little girl?"
"Any time," Buffy challenged, "any place." She lifted her hand in a beckoning motion. "Bring it on."
Angelus flashed Buffy a mockery of a lover's smile, before lunging hard at the Slayer. Buffy ducked backward, rolling as Angelus' body landed on hers, letting the vampire's body slide past her far enough for her to get her hands under his solar plexus. With a sudden thrust, she pushed him off of her, causing him to fly back-first into the lab window. As a rain of shards fell over Buffy, she rolled away from the falling glass with her hands in front of her face, avoiding the larger shards and suffering only superficial cuts over her hands.
Leaping quickly to her feet, Buffy examined the broken window, seeing Angelus chasing toward the library. "I don't think so," she muttered as she charged out the door and flew after the retreating vamp. With a well-timed leap, she tackled Angelus, grabbing onto his legs, causing him to fall hard onto the floor. "Did I say you could leave?" she glared at him, grabbing the lapels of his leather duster, throwing him against the nearest wall where she kept him pinned.
"You're not going to make your next birthday, Sweetness," Angel hissed. "You're aware of that, right?"
"Yeah, right," Buffy grinned, her hands straining against Angelus's shoulders as she kept him pinned to the wall in an iron grip. "Like you could beat me in a fair fight."
"Buffy, Buffy, Buffy," Angelus tut-tutted the Slayer. "Where in our past relationship did you ever get the idea that I would give you a fair fight?"
Anyone else would have missed the slight twitch in the vampire's left eye. Anyone else would have ignored the faint signal that he made with a simple wink. Anyone else would have fallen victim to Angelus's trap.
Buffy, fortunately, wasn't anyone else.
Dropping Angelus, Buffy ducked to the ground, just fast enough to feel a faint breeze as the dagger whizzed past her head. She heard the dull thud of the dagger's blade imbedding itself into the wall behind her. For the length of a second, she noticed the blond hairs that fell to the ground, sheared from her by the passing blade.
As she lifted her head, she noticed the prim figure standing at the other side of the hall, the blood-stained lace dress draping her thin figure like a shroud, the long braided black hair, the eyes that peered out of her eternally youthful face alight with madness. "Dash it all, you moved," Drusilla spoke in an eerie sing-song. "Still have two more tries for the kewpie doll."
Buffy's hand quickly clasped the dagger's handle, yanking it out of the wall just as Angelus rammed his shoulder into her midsection. Buffy felt her lungs deflate rapidly from the sudden pressure of Angelus's body-slam, as her lithe form flew backwards onto the ground. "That should soften her up, m'love," Angelus commented as he turned his attention to the Slayer as she struggled to regain her stance. "Now then," Angelus bowed gallantly toward his favored Childe, who was staring at Buffy with hungry eyes, eyes that gleamed like light reflecting off a knife's edge, "make your daddy proud!"
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"Jenny!" Giles gasped as his beloved rushed through the library doors and met him at the main table. Willow and Cordy stood up slightly as Giles stepped toward Jenny, meeting her halfway to the table in a fretful embrace. "Thank God you're alright," he whispered into the small of her neck, not wanting to relinquish this gentle contact.
"God," Jenny agreed, "and Willow." Giles turned his attention to Willow, who sat pensively, trying not to pay any attention to Giles and Miss Calendar, her hand absently combing the ends of her long red hair. Noticing that Cordy and the two adults were suddenly giving her odd looks, she commented, "Oh, sorry. It's just that I'm not used to wearing my hair this long. My senior year, I had it cut shorter."
"Don't apologize," Cordy answered, smiling slightly. "Actually, you would look good with shorter hair. Maybe highlights, to set off the red a little, oh, and bangs. You gotta go in for bangs, trust me on this. Hey, how about tomorrow I take you to my regular salon and..."
"Uh, Cordelia," Giles interrupted, "perhaps before making any salon appointments, we can get to the matter at hand?" Jenny flashed Cordy a slight smirk, causing Cordy to shrink slightly in her seat.
"Right," the cheerleader grimaced, "first we save the world, then we get pretty." Willow patted Cordy's hand, grateful for the rare gesture of kindness from her former childhood nemesis.
"We got the spell, Miss Calendar," Willow added, patting the small sheath of printer paper next to her on the table. "I printed them up as soon as they finished downloading on my laptop. Here ya go." She passed the pages to Jenny, who took them with a pleased nod.
"Good," Jenny murmured as she read over the papers. "Willow, you remember the spell from the last time?"
"A little," Willow said. "I remember what herbs were needed to complete the ritual, and Cordy helped me collect those after school."
Cordy nodded as she held up a Ziploc sandwich bag. "Stinky herbs are a go," she announced.
Giles and Jenny took their places at the table as Giles handed Jenny the Orb of Thesuleh reverently. Jenny placed the crystal orb in front of her, and took the bag of herbs from Cordy.
"Okay, people," she announced, holding hands with Giles and Willow, "let's do the deed."
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"You hurt my Sire, you nasty little slayer," Dru spoke in an eerie sing-song. "I'm going to slap your hand..." she smiled with sinister knowing, "to a pulp!"
Buffy scrambled to her feet, her legs bent beneath her in a defensive posture, her eyes darting, scanning her surroundings for any attack. "Hey, whaddya know, psycho-sister just made a clever!" Buffy's trademark jibe effectively covered her growing fear; for all her seeming sweetness, Dru was as dangerous as any vamp Buffy had encountered before.
"Quit playing with your food," Angelus chided his creation. "Let's finish this thing quickly."
"Good idea," A sudden prick at Angelus' back accompanied the calm voice behind him. "Hands where I can see them." Angelus turned his neck to look over his shoulder, and was greeted by a darkly smiling face. "I'm not the best shot with these," Oz commented as he glanced at the crossbow he held against the vampire's back. "On the other hand, at this range, do I really have to be?"
Angelus raised his hands upward and turned to Buffy, snarling in rage. Buffy smiled sweetly, saying, "Angel, Angel, Angel, where in our history did you think I'd be stupid enough to face you without backup?"
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Cordy waved the herbs over the table as Jenny had instructed her, while Jenny threw the stones on the table and Giles recited the first incantation; "Quod perditum est, invenietur." What is lost, return.
"Not dead... nor not of the living," Jenny intoned in as clear a voice as she could muster. "Spirits of the interregnum, I call. Gods, bind him. Cast his heart from the... evil... realm..." Jenny's voice trailed, slurred slightly. All four assembled round the table could feel some strange vibrations from the table. Whatever was happening, Jenny was getting the worst of it.
"Miss Calendar?" Cordy asked. "You okay?"
"She's fine," Willow whispered tersely. "I remember this part. It's working..."
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Buffy jumped in the clear as Drusilla lunged at her, hands curled into talons before her, her voice a guttural howl. "Way to telegraph your shot, sister!" Buffy taunted her opponent.
"Call her off," Oz shoved the end of his crossbow into the small of Angelus's back. "I won't say it again!"
"Easy, bro, easy," Angelus whispered in a calm voice. "I don't want to see unnecessary blood shed here." He smiled almost serenely, fixing Oz with a dark glare. "No, wait a minute," he added with a chuckle. "Yes I do!"
His right hand shot toward Oz like lightning, seizing the musician's neck roughly and throwing him headfirst into the sidewalk with a pile driver force. Buffy and Xander stood by in shocked silence as Angelus casually lifted the fallen teen by his head. "What do you know?" he sneered, "You won't say it again. Or anything else." With a quick clean motion, Angel twisted Oz's head halfway around, neatly snapping his neck.
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The magic that Jenny was commanding was tiring her rapidly; she began panting like a marathon runner after crossing the finish line. "Return..." she shouted, "I call on you..." Her head slumped forward, causing Giles and Cordy to fret. "Jenny!" Giles called out to his lover, "Jenny, speak to me! What's happening?"
"It's happening," Willow answered solemnly. "Just like it happened to me."
Just as suddenly, Jenny's head whipped up, and her eyes began staring intently at the Orb before her. "Te implor, Doamne," she chanted in Rumanian, "nu ignora aceasta rugaminte." I implore you, Lord, do not ignore this request. "Nici mort, nici al fiintei..." Neither dead, nor of the living...
"Uh, is this a good thing?" Cordy asked nervously. Willow nodded without speaking. Just as it happened to her, it was now happening to Jenny. It was working...
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"OZ!" Buffy screamed as Angelus dropped the lifeless body to the ground like a sack of wheat. "Angelus, you son of a BITCH!" She charged toward the gloating figure of Angelus, only to be blocked by Drusilla.
"Stay away from Daddy!" Dru shrieked, slamming her shoulder into Buffy's midsection. Buffy threw herself backward as she fell, rolling neatly and landing squarely on her feet.
"Get back, Buffy," Xander shouted, and Buffy dodged without asking. As she backed away from Dru, she barely glimpsed the site of a wooden crossbow bolt shooting through Dru's blouse. Within seconds, the insane vampire exploded into a shower of dust.
"NOOOOOO!" Angelus cried into the night, wailing at the loss of his beloved. "Xander, I'm going to do you messy!" He grabbed the crossbow from Oz's dead fingers and aimed it squarely at Xander.
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"Lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta, sufletul la el." Jenny continued to chant. Let this Orb be the vessel that will carry his soul to him.
"Somebody speak English," Cordy implored. Between the slowly rising library table and the strange glow emanating from Jenny's eyes, she was seriously in freak-out mode.
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Buffy charged at Angelus, leaping forward with her right foot forward. Thrusting her foot forward, she kicked the crossbow out of the vampire's hand, causing Angelus to fall back, yelping in pain. "Never again!" Before Angelus could recover, Buffy knocked him down, straddling his waist with her knees. "You won't ever get a chance to kill anyone, ever again!" She pulled a stake out of her jacket, and raised it over Angelus' chest. "You're going down tonight!"
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Jenny cried out, "Asa sa fie! Asa sa fie! Acum!" So it shall be! So it shall be! Now!
========
Buffy lifted the stake above her head, preparing for the final thrust, when Angelus's body lurched violently beneath her. Xander rushed to her side, still brandishing his crossbow. "What's happening Buffy?"
"It's working..." Buffy murmured as she lowered her stake. "It's working. His soul is being restored." She began to lift herself off of Angelus' body, watching as his eyes began to glow red, and his body spasmed in pain.
"Yeah, well," Xander snarled as he aimed his crossbow at Angelus' heart, "too little, too late."
"No," Buffy growled as she stood up, pushing Xander's arm away, "put it down. Angelus doesn't get the easy way out. Not this time."
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"ACUM!" Jenny shouted one last time, as the Orb flared brighter than a summer sun, then fell cold and still. The table lowered gently, and Jenny exhaled deeply, shaking her head awake. Giles rushed to her side as she tried to stand up, gladly accepting Giles' arm as a support.
Giles turned to Willow. "Go out there, but keep your distance. We need to know if it worked."
"Gotcha," Willow nodded as she rushed out the door.
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Angel finally stopped convulsing and lay still for a moment, before his eyes opened and he began to lift himself off of the ground. "Buffy--" he stammered, "wha-what happened?"
Buffy stood silently before Angel, her arms crossed protectively. Angel had considered moving toward her, but the stake she still held in her hand made him reconsider. "What's going on?" Angel asked as he turned around, surveying the damage around him. Buffy and Xander greeted his question with silence, but the unforgiving rage that smoldered in their eyes gave him all the answer he needed. "Oh my God," he whispered. "Did I--" His eyes rested on the lifeless form of Daniel Osbourne, and he shuddered. He stood alone, knowing without asking what he had done, before turning back to Buffy and Xander.
"Buffy," he pleaded, "I'm so sorry. I don't have any memory of what happened, but..."
"Shut up," Buffy barked at him. "I do not want to hear another word out of your mouth. Now, or ever." She walked toward Angel, cold fury freezing her face into a mask of pure hatred. As he looked at her, Angel realized that what he had done as Angelus would never be forgotten, or forgiven. "Angel," Buffy spoke through clenched teeth, "I'm not going to repeat myself, so pay very close attention." She grabbed the lapels of his duster jacket, pulling him toward her until his face was an inch away from hers. "Run, Angel. Run far, run fast, run away from here and never look back. If I ever see you again after tonight, soul or no soul, you die. Don't say anything, just nod if you understand." Buffy released her grip on Angel's lapels, causing the vamp to drop to his feet.
Angel nodded once, and walked away rapidly. Once he was fifty feet away from the school, he turned back toward Buffy. "I love you," he spoke plainly.
"Go to hell," Buffy answered just as plainly.
Angel shrugged his shoulders in defeat and turned away. He walked out of sight, and out of Buffy's life.
Buffy then joined Xander as he knelt before Oz's body, gently shutting his eyelids. All the rage and sorrow he felt when he first encountered the vampire that had been his friend Jesse surfaced and redoubled as he gazed at his lost friend. "Buffy," he said, struggling to keep his voice from cracking with his grief, "we'd better go tell Willow the bad news."
Buffy stared over Xander's shoulder for a second. "Too late," she stammered, pointing toward the library building. Xander craned his head around, and immediately wished that he hadn't.
Willow stood quietly at the doorway, her eyes wide with shock and grief. Her jaw hung slack as she witnessed Xander hovering over Oz's body, and tears began to stream freely from her eyes.
"No," she whispered, "no, no, no, it wasn't supposed to happen like this..." Buffy stood up and tentatively moved toward Willow, holding out her hand. Before Buffy could say anything, Willow jerked away, and ran away. In a heartbeat, she was gone.