Part Eight
The entire ‘Scooby Gang’ was out in force, scouring the town of Sunnydale for any sign of the injured Slayer. The first reaction upon seeing her room had been to assume that she was taken away by force. Still, even injured, there should have been signs of a struggle. There was none – only the open window and empty bed. Angel had been in too much of a panic to have any clue what was going on. Joyce had been even worse, but between the two of them they’d managed to call in Buffy’s friends.
It was Willow who had somehow managed to calm down enough to notice that a couple of Buffy’s favorite weapons were missing.
So they’d spread out through the town, searching. They’d been continually shocked, both by the fact that she’d gone out on her own and then that she wasn’t right near by. It was a testament to her strength that she’d gotten so far as injured as she was. And at night yet, with demons and vampires likely out in force.
Separated from the group, searching on his own, Angel’s thoughts were a confusion of worry and guilt. ‘I knew she was...feeling caged,’ he thought. ‘I should have stayed with her.’ He was terrified that she’d be found by one of the neighborhood vampires or something worse and that he’d never see her again. All of this, and he’d never told her how important she was to him, how much he needed her in his life as he tried to make sense of his new destiny. He was afraid he’d never get to tell her.
But fear and worry and guilt did not get him anywhere when it came to finding Buffy. He’d already wandered several of the cemeteries she was known to frequent, as well as the center of town, and there was no sign of her. It was as if she’d simply disappeared. His initial panic had faded with the knowledge that Buffy might have gone out on her own, but every step without finding her brought him closer to those original fears.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
Angel froze at the familiar voice. Of all the times…. “Not now,” he hissed, barely turning.
Jade was starkly obvious with her white hair in the darkness. “I said I would be returning,” she said calmly.
Angel turned away from her, continuing his search. “Did you purposefully pick the worst possible moment to resurface?”
She fell in step beside him, despite his significantly longer stride, and Angel could see her flinch at his tone. She was never easy to dissuade, though. “Where are you going?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
“I don’t know,” Angel admitted, but did not slow in the slightest.
“Would it help if I gave you a destination?”
Angel halted and spun on her. “What do you know?” he nearly yelled.
Jade looked a bit startled at his tone, and not for the first time Angel found himself wondering about her actual age. “I know you have ignored your Calling again.”
It took Angel a second to realize what she was referring to, to remember the argument that had recently sent him to Sunnydale in the first place. “I’ve had other things on my mind,” he said flatly, going to walk again.
Jade slipped in front of him to stop him, a look of exasperation on her face. “You are the only embodiment of the Phoenix I have heard of,” she said, “who has consistently ignored your duty.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Angel replied angrily. “I have done my duty to the Powers That Be for years now. I fight demons; I make amends! But right now, my duty is to Buffy, not to them.”
Jade looked confused and a touch flustered by his tirade. “Where is the Guardian?” she asked more softly.
Angel had assumed that, with the precise timing of her arrival, Jade knew what was going on. It was slightly…humanizing to see her as fallible. It was also abruptly obvious that she was doing as he had repeatedly asked and not reading his mind. He forced himself to calm. “I don’t know. She disappeared from her home. All of her friends are out looking for her.”
“And you?”
“Of course,” Angel retorted.
She looked at him contemplatively for a moment. “Where is your hellmouth?” she asked.
“What?” Angel couldn’t see the logic to the question.
“Your hellmouth,” she repeated. “The Guardian exists because of the Hellmouth. She may be drawn to it.”
Angel did not so much as pause to decipher her statement. He knew Jade well enough at this point to know that she’d explain eventually, after the crisis was past. Without a word, he headed with quickened steps in the direction of the old high school. He was vaguely aware of Jade running right on his heels.
The old high school sat isolated on its grounds, a black, burned out skeleton against the nighttime sky. It was a forbidding structure, still marked off by fading police tape. Angel hurried onward, not taking in the sight. If there was any chance Buffy was here, he wanted to find her now. To make sure she was safe.
Even with Buffy in danger, Angel entered the structure with some degree of caution. This was the first time he’d been in the old high school since…well, since shortly before they’d blown it up. Its blackened walls did not look that stable, and the floor was cracked and rubble strewn. Behind him, Angel could hear Jade stumbling slightly in her thick heeled shoes.
Closer to the Hellmouth itself – beneath the old library – new sounds made themselves known to Angel. Impacts and occasional vocalizations – the sounds of violence – spurred Angel onward. He was nearly running towards the library now, towards that battle in progress. One part of him was sure that Buffy was not there – there was no way that she would be fighting now. The majority of him, though, was certain she was there, and would die at any moment if he did not arrive at her side. He moved still faster across the uneven ground.
Her injuries should have prevented her from defending herself.
What he found instead, as he ducked through the crumbling door frame to the old library and blast center, was a vibrant warrior. He froze. Buffy moved as if she’d never been injured, her battle steps flowing between one move and the next. The vampires she faced cowered in front of her. She was not a person, but a force.
Angel watched with a shade of awe. Were it not for the cast encasing her right wrist, he would have thought her…inhuman, in an unbeatable sort of way. Even that cast became a weapon, striking out like a club. As Angel watched, one of the vampires that had not yet succumbed to dust broke from the battle, rushing for the exit. Heedless of the danger ahead, his only though was obviously fleeing the empowered Slayer. Angel barely had to put any effort into staking the terrified vampire.
His attention returned to Buffy after barely a moment, but that momentary distraction was all she needed to get rid of one more of her opponents, leaving only one remaining vampire. He was large and obviously battle trained, but that was no problem for Buffy. Within moments, before Angel could possibly move to assist her, the last vampire was vanquished, sent plummeting into the gaping maw of the hellmouth and possibly even to hell itself.
It was over before Angel really had time to sort out what he was seeing.
Silence echoed in the blackened room. Buffy’s back was to Angel as she stared at where the vampire had vanished. She was trembling slightly and breathing heavily.
“Buffy.”
She spun to face Angel, and for a moment he was taken aback by her expression. There was a sense of barely suppressed violence about her. Then that was gone, leaving only confusion and disorientation in its place.
“Angel?” she gasped.
He could see the confusion turn to panic on her face, and see her trembling turn to all out shaking. He rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her a moment before her legs gave out. He cushioned her fall, kneeling with her and pulling her into his lap. Her hands fluttered about her, fumbling with her shirt and the bandages underneath. Her trembling, unencumbered hand revealed flesh unscarred to both of their gazes.
Buffy let out an inexplicable sob and collapsed into Angel’s chest. “He killed me,” she said, barely comprehensible. “He did, and now I killed him. A life for a life.”
Angel cradled her to him, feeling her tears wetting his shirt. He whispered sweet, comforting nothings, soothing sounds, as his gaze drifted over her head to the strange, white-haired woman standing in the doorway. Jade caught his gaze and simply nodded.
In his arms, Buffy’s sobs and shaking continued in pure emotional release.
On to Part Nine
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