“OPEN THE DAMN DOOR ANGEL! WE KNOW YOU HAVE WILLOW”, Buffy screamed.
Angel headed for the door, but felt a hand pull him back.
*No*
*Why?*
*No*
At that moment the door violently opened. Buffy charged in, her crossbow pointed forward. Giles and Xander hurried in back of her.
Willow stepped in front of Angel, her arms stretched out, side to side.
“Get out of the way Willow,” Buffy demanded.
“No Buffy, put the bow down!” she told her.
“After all he has done to you?” Xander asked her mad.
She would not let them hurt him. Never. She stared dangerously from Xander to Buffy.
“Get out of the way!” she yelled once more.
She stood her ground. Angel remained still in back, letting Willow take care of the situation.
She lowered her bow and rushed to her, deciding to drag her out of the way. To her surprise, she was stopped. She was not able to move forward. Xander and Giles looked on shocked. The crossbow was pulled out of her hands and thrown in the air, landing on the other side of the room.
Angel would feel the anger building inside of her and pulled one of her hands to his.
“What the hell...?” Buffy demanded once she saw what had happened to her and the crossbow, but soon quieted as she heard the door slam close and looked around her and saw Giles and Xander next to her.
Willow closed her eyes and let Buffy go, causing her to fall to the floor. She squeezed his hand and leaned on it for support. He automatically stood behind her, offering his body for support. She accepted gladly and thanked him.
“We need to talk, but if you try to hurt Angel in anyway, I will stop you,” she warned them.
“You’re the one,” Giles said in awe.
She nodded her head in agreement.
“What?” Xander asked, coming out of the confusion and fear.
“The one in the prophecy,” Giles continued.
“I am.”
“The shadow?”
“We think it’s Angel,” she told them.
“If someone would like to explain to me why we haven’t hurt dead boy here?” Xander asked, the words not sinking in.
“Because Willow will stop us. Just like she stopped Buffy,” Giles explained.
“And why would she do that?” Xander asked sarcastically.
“Because he’s her protector. Her Guardian,” he said as he looked at Angel then Willow.
“We should sit,” Angel spoke.
“I’m here and this makes no sense to me. What the hell is happening?” Buffy demanded.
“I need to explain.”
“The hell you do,” Xander agreed.
“Sit,” Angel instructed, loosing his patience with them, he was worried about Willow.
*Are you o.k?*, concern in his soft voice.
She looked up at him.
*I’ll be fine.*
But he knew. She was tired and her head seemed to hurt. She was in some kind of pain.
*I need to explain, then I’ll rest*, she told him, sensing his worry for her. She smiled.
The rest looked on confused at what they saw. Their seemed to be a hidden meaning between them as they took their seats, which hurt Buffy the most.
She remained standing, leaning on Angel.
“About a week ago, I began having nightmares. Every time I closed my eyes, they would come and haunt me. I hardly ever slept. I never told anyone of their extent. Each night, each time it was a new one, more vivid then the one before. I slept no more then three hours at a time. I would wake up, only to go back to sleep and have another. They were all similar, some more horrifying then the other. It started off in a camp with a group of people,” she described as her voice began to crack.
Angel squeezed her hand.
*I’m here.*
“I would be a witness to all their executions, tortures, pain, fears. It never seemed to end. The worse part was they knew I was there and would call out for me to help. To help them stop the suffering, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move. Then two nights ago, the tormentor came after me. I ran through the hills trying to escape. I could hear its laughs so close. It wanted me dead...,” she said as a tear ran down her cheek.
“I can never see “it”. All I can see are the people screaming, yelling. The things done to them. It’s horrible..horrible. I wanted to help, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop them from dying...,” as more tears fell.
“Then I started noticing things. Things I couldn’t understand. I started getting headaches, then passing out. The night I was attacked by the vampire, I had thrown the stake at him, dusting him. The only thing was that he was too far away. I can’t even throw correctly,” she confessed. “Angel saw it, then I passed out, my head throbbing.”
“The door in the sewer,” Giles said fascinated.
“It was me. There wasn’t a lever. I did it.”
“How?” Xander asked still confused.
“With her mind.” Angel replied.
“That isn’t possible,” Buffy began to protest.
“I can. Just like a stooped you from advancing and slammed the door shut. I did it.”
“That’s crazy,” Xander said a bit unnerved.
“I know it’s hard to believe, I still can’t, but I was the one who stopped the golden arrow. It all happened so fast. He had me, then the door closed. I tried to get away, but I couldn’t. I was too scared. Then he started shooting the arrows out of his arms. He loosened the hold, I bit him and got away. Then someone pushed me to the floor. It was Angel. The arrow cut throw his chest. He had saved me from my death, I was frozen. A moment later Buffy flew through the air, hitting the wall head on. She was knocked out cold. I was angry, angry that I hadn’t helped my friends and causing all of this. I stood up and faced him. He started laughing, then pointed the arrow at me and shot. I stopped it, in-between my hands then....,” she said, shaking a bit, remembering what she had done. "Then...I threw it...back...in his..his head..he died”.
Angel could sense the struggling of her emotions. He caressed her hand, Buffy all the while looking on, jealously in her eyes.
“Then I saw Angel, he had lost too much blood. I cut my wrists, I was the one that let him drink, I was the one that saved my friend. He had no idea what was happening until he woke up, then stooped.”
“We didn’t...we weren’t...,” Giles began to explain feeling ashamed of his wrongful assumptions of Angel.
“Angel I didn’t know..I couldn’t remember..,” Buffy interrupted.
Angel looked at Giles, then Buffy. He looked away, knowing what they meant, not levitating the hurt caused.
“I passed out in the cave when I opened the door, then in the library, Angel was still hurt, but you didn’t let him leave. He could have died if I hadn’t asked him to take me home. This afternoon, I came over here. We had a lot to talk about.”
“Talk about what?” Buffy asked accusingly.
“Talk about what happened.”
“About the night you came over here to sleep with him?” she asked getting up, her better judgment slipping.
“What?!” Both men asked as they jumped off the
sofa, wondering just what the hell was going on between them.
* * * * * * * * * * *
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