Black Hole Sun:
Black Hole Sun
by Axis Harris

Part Two

College had started up again, and Riley had come back to Sunnydale after visiting family in Iowa. Willow had told him over the phone about Angel, and he had come back right away to offer support. Everyone knew how Riley felt about Angel, and they thought it was big of him to set that aside and support Buffy. It also showed how deeply he cared for her. Buffy had appreciated his efforts, he had succeeded in making her feel better a few times, but she was almost always thinking of Angel.

"Hey, Buffy," Riley said as he ran up to her. He kissed her on the forehead and she gave him a slight smile in return. He looked at her sadly, he wished he could make the pain go away. But he knew he couldn't, and only time would help.

"Hey. I was just going up to my dorm. Keep me company?"

"Sure." They walked together to the room, talking as they went. They made plans for that night, to see a movie and get some dinner. While Buffy was still grieving, she was coping well and was trying to get on with life. She was doing fairly well she hadn't become a miserable wreck as the gang had thought she would. Part of that might have had something to do with her not having fully processed that Angel was really gone for good, that he no longer existed anymore. It was understandable, in the past year she had only seen him a couple of times.

When they got to the room Riley kissed her goodbye and left to mark some papers. Willow and Tara were inside looking up spells.

"Hey, guys. Watcha doing?" Buffy asked as she fell onto her bed.

"Oh, nothing. Just looking up some spells we can try. No big," Willow answered offhandedly.

"'Kay. I'm gonna take a nap, try not to disturb."

"Why, have a big night planned?" Willow asked with a hint of mischief in her voice. Tara smiled and shook her head slightly.

"If you must know, Riley an I are going to a movie then out for some dinner."

"Well, have fun. Try not to wake me if you come in tonight. In the meantime, Tara and I are going to Xander's." The two got up and left Buffy alone to her nap. She lay down and closed her eyes, and, as she did every time she slept, dreamt of Angel.

LA

Cordelia and Wesley were sitting quietly in Angels apartment. For the last fifteen weeks they fought evil as best they could, with a suprising rate of success. Still, they failed lots of their cases and were both growing more and more downhearted. They had the trust funds Angel had set up for them which provided money when they needed it. Which was becoming more often.

"We should do something," Cordelia suddenly said.

"Such as?"

"I don't know. We just need to get out, do stuff."

"I don't know. I know we cant just sit and mope about Angel, but..."

"Wesley, I miss him too. But we just cant sit and wish he were here. As much as we don't like it he isn't going to come staggering through that door and-" she stopped speaking when she noticed Wesley staring at the elevator, his mouth hanging open. She stood and moved to get a look, and when she saw what Wesley was looking at she thought she was going to die of shock.

"Hey, guys," Angel said weakly. He stood swaying for a moment, then collapsed, completely unconscious.

Cordy and Wes had managed to move Angel to his bed. He was covered in cuts and bruises, his face barely recognizable. His shirt was torn almost to shreds, as were his pants.

"Help me get his shirt off," Wesley instructed Cordelia. They carefully removed it, and the sight of his bare chest and back was enough to make them both leave to be sick.

"Oh, God..." Cordelia whispered as she peered at his chest. It was a mass of cuts, burns and bruises. His back looked even worse. They took his pants off next and he lay there, naked before them, and could only be described as a sickening sight.

"We need to clean him uuuuuuuuup," Cordelia gasped as a vision overcame her. At first she didn't know what to make of it, it didn't depict anyone in trouble. Then came the image of Angel in full sunlight. "Check...check for a pulse."

Wesley looked confused for a moment then did as he was told and sure enough, Angels heart was beating. Barely.

"I don't understand. Is this what you saw in your vision?"

"I saw him in sunlight. We need to get him to a hospital."

"Right, you call an ambulance and I'll try and clean him a little."

Buffy and Riley's night out was going well. The movie had been good, and they had gone out for dinner. To Buffy's surprise, Riley had chosen to take her to one of the nicer restaurants in Sunnydale. It had a very romantic atmosphere, at first Buffy had been embarrassed by the way she was dressed but Riley and the bus boy had managed to convince her she looked fine. After they had eaten Riley stood and held his hand out for her.

"Dance with me?" She smiled and accepted the offer, and they joined the other couples on the floor. Buffy was enjoying herself, and she felt some of the pain of Angels death begin to dull. Then she heard the song that had begun to play, and it all came crashing back. She gasped and moved suddenly away from Riley. Tears began spilling down her cheeks once more. It was the song she and Angel had danced to on the night of her senior prom.

"Buffy? Hey, are you okay? What is it?" Riley asked her, very concerned. She had seemed to be enjoying herself until the song had started to play.

"I'm sorry, its just that song..." she trailed of, not being able to continue. Riley put a hand on her shoulder and drew her into a hug. "I'm sorry," she said again.

"No, don't be sorry. Its okay. Come on, I'll take you home."

Buffy walked into her dorm room and threw her keys onto her desk. Willow, who had been rummaging through the fridge, jumped at the sudden noise.

"Hey, Buffy! You scared me. What are you doing back so early?" Willow regarded her for a moment and noticed how upset Buffy looked. "Hey, what happened? Is it Riley? Did you two have a fight?" Buffy shook her head. "Angel?" Buffy nodded and burst into tears. She had managed to deny the truth for the past few weeks, had managed to hold off most of the emotions. It hadn't fully registered that Angel was gone forever, and the song tonight was a harsh reminder. She sank to the floor, violent sobs overtaking her as the full realization finally hit. Willow ran over to her best friend, and once again held her. They sat like that for hours, neither speaking.

Finally Buffy fell asleep and Willow had to try and move her to her bed. Unable to, she simply put a pillow under Buffy's head and covered her with a blanket. She sighed and sat at her desk, holding her face in her hands. She felt so bad for her. But there was nothing she could do. She looked up when she heard Buffy cry out. Willow gazed at her and felt her heart break for her friend. She wasn't even able to escape the pain in her sleep.

"God..." the doctor looked ready to faint when he looked down at Angels body. "What happened to him?"

"We don't know, we just found him like this."

"Okay, you guys are going to have to wait here. We'll do what we can but..." he trailed off and jogged to the room where they had moved Angel.

"He's not going to make it, is he?" Cordelia asked. She wasn't about to get her hopes up.

"I don't know. He could, he's made it so far."

"So, do we call Buffy?"

"No. No, we should call Giles. We'll leave it up to him to decide if Buffy gets told or not, at least until we know if Angel will live."

"Right. You call him now, I'll see if I can find out what they're going to do with Angel."

"Are you sure?" Giles could not believe what he was hearing. Angel was alive, for now at least, and in the human way.

"Yes, but...well he might not make it. So I was thinking-"

"We shouldn't tell Buffy yet. I know."

"Yes, right. Well, I'm going to see whats happening. I'll call you in the morning."

"Right." Giles hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. He rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. he thought in disbelief. He moved off to his bed, though he knew he would not be able to sleep.

Buffy woke the next morning to find herself on the floor in her and Willows room. She groggily sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to process just why she was on the floor. It slowly came back to her, the date with Riley, how it had all been going well until-

"Morning Buffy," Willow said, pulling Buffy from her thoughts. She helped her to her feet, and looked at her worriedly. Buffy had been inconsolable the night before, and Willow hoped it wouldn't happen again this morning. She hated seeing Buffy cry.

"Hey Will. Look, I'm really sorry about last night."

"No, don't worry about it. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess. Its just...it finally sunk in, you know?"

"Yeah. Riley brought you home?"

"Uh huh, oh, I hope he's not mad."

"He's not. He called this morning to see how you were."

"Uh Will, what time is it exactly?"

"12:30. I know you missed class, but I told our teacher you were sick. He was okay with it. You sure you're alright?"

"I will be. Its hard, but I'll be okay."

"Okay. Well, I'm going over to Giles' place. I'll see you later okay?"

"Yeah. Why are you going to see Giles?"

"I don't know, he just said he needed to talk to me about a spell. I'll see ya."

"He's alive!? As in, alive alive?" Willow looked at Giles in shock at what she'd just been told.

"Well, he's in very serious condition. I'm still not quite sure he's going to live. I'm waiting for Wesley or Cordelia to call with some news."

"Well, we have to tell Buffy. She'll want to know right away, why didn't you want her to come?"

"Willow, Angel may still die. Do you really want to put her through all that pain all over again?"

"You mean that pain she's still going through? She hasn't recovered Giles. She still feels it like it happened yesterday. Maybe we should give her the chance to say goodbye."

"Willow, I know-" the phone ringing cut him off. He rushed to pick it up, and answered somewhat breathlessly. "Hello?"

"Giles, hey its Cordy."

"How is he?"

"Intensive care. It took them forever to figure out what all his injuries were, but he's stabilized."

"He's going to live?"

"We think so. Wesley did some weird spirit-talking thing to find out what was going on. The powers gave Angel his humanity for averting the apocalypse, and he still has his vampy strength. They still want him to fight evil, which I'm guessing he would have done anyway. But they didn't bother to heal him before they made him human. So, as far as living goes its still up in the air but more on our side."

"Right, well...should I let Buffy know?"

"Up to you. Look I'm gonna go see if he's woken up yet. Bye." She hung up, and Giles put down the phone.

"Well, what did she say?" Willow asked anxiously.

"He's in intensive care, they're still not sure as to whether he'll live but its looking in his favor. The powers, the ones who reverted him to human, left him with his vampiric strength."

"So, we'll go tell Buffy. And no arguments Giles," Willow told him sternly as she moved towards the door. Giles stood for a moment, watching her retreating form.

"No! Willow wait. Do you really want Buffy to see him the way he is? From what they've told me he looks like...I don't know what it would do to Buffy to see him like that."

"She's a big girl Giles. I'm sure she can handle seeing him banged up."

"Willow, you're not listening. He's unrecognizable. Even the paramedics felt ill."

"Look, Giles you weren't there last night. You weren't the one who had to sit and hold her while she cried her eyes out. She's hurting so much Giles, I don't think she would care what he looks like so long as she got to see him."

Willow looked at him for a long moment then once again moved towards the door. This time Giles said nothing and followed.

Part Three Forthcoming

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