Series: LoveOdyssey
Disclaimer and all other info in previous parts....
-The end of Buffy and Riley-

"Don't ever call him that!" Buffy said softly to Riley, her voice hard and dangerous.

"Why not? It's true, Buffy. He's a vampire, a monster." Riley wasn't about to back down.

"Yes, he's a vampire." Buffy snapped. "Duh. We've all known that for years. It doesn't change the fact that he's got a soul. He's more human than a lot of people I know, Riley."

"Buffy, you don't have to defend me." Angel said softly from behind her.

"Stay out of it!" Buffy snapped without turning to face him.

"Why should he?" Riley replied.

"Because you and him getting into another pissing contest is the last thing we need right now." Buffy exploded. "And the two of you fighting turns me into some sort of prize for the winner, like it's a contest one of you has to win. I'm not a prize, Riley. And the sooner you understand that I choose who I'm with the happier we'll all be."

"Then choose." Riley said simply.

Buffy looked at him in disbelief for a moment, then glanced down at the book she had dropped, the book that contained Wesley's translation of the Shanshu prophecy.

"You know I'm with you." Buffy said, although it didn't sound very convincing.

"It doesn't feel like it most of the time." Riley replied, his voice softening.

"What do you want me to say? That Angel's the first guy I ever loved? Or do you want me to say that I'm more mature now, and I realized that I never really loved Angel. I'm so over him and all I want is you!"

Angel glanced at Cordelia, hearing the words of her vision come true.

"I can't say that, Riley. Because it's not true!" Buffy finished.

Angel's glance turned into a glare, and all Cordelia could do was shrug her shoulders.

It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, Angel realized through the silence in the room.

Just like the time that Buffy heard the Master would be freed and went to stop him. It was her blood that set him free, and if she hadn't gone it wouldn't have happened.

It he hadn't come to Sunnydale, this scene never would have happened; but he probably wouldn't have come if he hadn't known it would happen. Prophecies gave him a headache.

"What do you mean, it's not true?" Riley spat.

~I know that I can't take no more~
~It ain't no lie~
~I wanna see you out that door~
~Baby, bye bye bye~

"Riley, I tried to make it work with you, I really did." Buffy said softly, ignoring everyone else in the room. "And maybe if I had more time..well, at least that's what I thought at first. But seeing Angel again, knowing that some day I could be with him."

"How can you say that? After all the bad things he did to you? He left you, Buffy. He doesn't love you anymore, and whatever you feel," Riley tried to reason with her.

"How can you say he doesn't love me?" Buffy cut him off. "You don't know that! He loved me enough to let me go, to do the right thing when I wasn't strong enough to do it. If he had stayed, sooner or later we would have broken the curse again, because it was getting too hard to resist. I couldn't admit that then, not for a long time after either, but I know now it was the only thing he could do."

~I'm givin up, I know for sure~
~I don't wanna be the reason for your love no more~
~Bye bye~

Riley just stared at her for a moment, speechless. The rest of the room had a similar reaction.

"You really mean that, don't you?" Angel asked softly, his voice sounding horribly loud in the stillness of the room.

"Yes, I do." Buffy replied without turning around. "I still hate that you left, but I can't hate you for it."

~I'm checkin out, I'm signing off~
~I don't wanna be the loser and I've had enough~

"Then hate him for killing your teacher!" Riley spat, still not believing what his girlfriend was saying. "Hate him for killing your friends, for stalking you, for being the reason your mother found out who you are."

"That wasn't him, Riley." Buffy tried to explain it to Riley. She really did like him, in a friend kind of way. "You know that a vampire is nothing like the soul of the person that it took over."

"No, I don't know that!" Riley replied. "Why do you think all vampire personalities are so different? It's because they take on the personality of the person."

~I don't wanna make it tough but I've had enough~

"Is that what they teach at the Initiative?" Xander stood up and came to stand next to Willow. Angel watched in shock as the three original Scoobies faced off with Riley. "No wonder you guys are all so stupid."

Buffy just stared at Xander in shock; she couldn't believe he was taking Angel's side.

"The personality of the vampire comes from the personality of the demon." Willow sounded like a textbook. "That's why some are capable of human emotions and others aren't, it all depends on the strength of the demon that takes over them."

~Might sound crazy but it ain't no lie~

"That's crazy!" Riley shouted.

"But it's true." Buffy answered. "I know Angel, Riley. I love him. But I've also met Angelus; I've met the demon within him. And if you think for one second that I could love that, that monster," Buffy said, repeating Riley's earlier choice of words, "then you're crazy. Angelus hated me, because I made him feel human. I made Angel feel human, because I loved him. And because he loved me."

"There's just no reasoning with you." Riley said as he bent down to collect his bag. "I'm out of here, you people are all crazy."

"You're the one who's crazy, Riley. Because you have no idea what you're talking about, and you're saying it anyway." Buffy said sadly.

"Plus you're an idiot." Xander just had to get the last word in as Riley stomped out the door.

~Bye bye bye!~

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