*~*~*~
Satan, you know where I lie
Gently I go into that good night
*~*~*~
*~ She sat on the edge of the roof of the oldest building in Sunnydale, the Sunnydale Courthouse, seven stories up. Her feet hung over the side and her red hair fluttered around her sad, pixiesh face. She was a tiny girl, so small and fragile in comparison of the huge granite building.
*~*~*~
All our lives get complicated
Search for pleasures overrated
*~*~*~
*~ Her green eyes shone in the moonlight, glistening with tears as she stared at the concrete below. She'd as much as told them what she was going to do; she'd been throwing hints for weeks. But they didn't listen. They hadn't even noticed anything was wrong. Tears slipped down the pale perfection of her cheek to land on the stone gargoyle. When did it come to this- that she would actively seek her own death?
*~ There was no sense in analyzing it... It just was.
*~*~*~
Never armed our souls
What the future would hold
When we were innocent
*~*~*~
*~ Her parents wouldn't care if she didn't come home. Someone would try to tell them, but she knew it would be weeks or months before they were contacted. Even then, they wouldn't come home. She shifted her position, moving closer to the edge.
*~ Buffy wouldn't care; Giles would be shocked, but wouldn't be broken up for too long. Xander... Xander was her oldest friend and he'd be sad that she was gone. But he had Cordelia now, and he didn't need her. No, he didn't need her.
*~ No one was left to care what happened to her. Especially not the one who had torn her very being- who had taken razor-sharp magickal claws and torn her soul, her magick away. No... Not even the witch wanted her now that her purpose had been filled.
*~ Here she was- bereft of friends and empty of power. She was useless to them and to herself.
*~*~*~
Angels, lend me your might
Forfeit all my lives to get just one right
*~*~*~
*~ A tall, blonde shadow crept up behind her, his dark blue eyes confused as he watched the young witch scoot closer and closer to the edge of the roof. He recognized her from his sire's ramblings, the little redhead... the one Angelus had targeted next. Not targeted as in a killing target, but a target as making her his. A childe. Another sister to add to the twisted little family.
*~ As he watched, she slid off the roof and started falling. "Fuck!" he shouted and shot forward, catching her arm just in time. The combination of the force of the sudden stop and her full weight jerking on her arm popped it out of socket and she screamed.
*~*~*~
All those colors long since faded
All our smiles are confiscated
*~*~*~
*~ "Let me go," she screamed, tears flowing freely from her face as she clawed at his hand as he pulled her up and over the side. He held her tightly even as she fought wildly. "Damnit! Let me die! Please just let me fucking die!" she started sobbing, pounding her little fist on his chest. Her other arm wasn't working, and he was suddenly holding her full weight. "Please, just let me die."
*~*~*~
Never were we told
What the future would hold
When we were innocent
*~*~*~
*~ He took her to the only place he knew she would be safe from herself. To his sire. She sat silently, her emerald eyes blank as she stared ahead at the fireplace, her injured arm cradled uselessly against her side. Her red hair had fallen out of its ponytail and was falling in a brilliant cascade around her face and shoulders.
*~ "What have we here?" She didn't react as Angelus stalked into the room, moving to stand in front of her, blocking whatever she was staring at. She didn't even blink.
*~ "What happened to her?" he demanded, glaring at Spike, who shrugged nonchalantly.
*~ "She tried to off herself," he answered, the concern in his eyes belying his indifferent tone.
*~ "What? What happened to make her want to do that?" the dark haired vampire was confused. He knelt down in front of her, flinching inwardly at the total lack of response. "Willow? Talk to me, Little One." His tone was gentle, surprising his blonde childe. It was the first time he'd ever heard that tone of voice out of the unsouled version- even the souled version of the vampire in front of him had never used that tone.
*~ She didn't even blink. "Willow, it's Angel," he said gently, and Spike caught on to his game. If she wouldn't respond to Angelus, she would respond to Angel.
*~*~*~
This prayer is for me tonight
This far down that line and still ain't got it right
*~*~*~
*~ "I know who you are," the redhead said coldly, her eyes frozen chips of green ice. "And I know what you are. I will say this once, and I will only say it once. If you're going to kill me, do it. If not, let me do it myself."
*~ "Why would a smart girl like yourself want to commit suicide?" his voice was back to 'normal', or almost. There was the usual coldness, but mixed in was a genuine curiosity and a tiny... very tiny... bit of concern.
*~*~*~
Never did we know
What the future would hold
*~*~*~
*~ "What do you care? You just want to kill me anyway," the girl snorted bitterly. "I'm better off dead. She got here before you did- I'm no use to you or anyone anymore." Her last words were whispered through near-motionless lips as her eyes nearly pleaded with him.
*~ "What are you talking about?" Angelus demanded, anger coming quick to the surface.
*~ "Tara," Willow spat. "The bitch tricked me. All of my magick is gone. She drained it- took it for herself, then left me here. She didn't even have the decency to finish it. Without my power, I'm nothing. I'm fucking useless. How many times do I have to say it?"
*~ Angelus looked angry enough to kill something just by looking at it. "Where is she?"
*~ "What?" the redhead looked up, surprised.
*~ "The bitch. *Where is she?*"
*~ Willow shrugged, tossing her hair out of her eyes with a scowl. "How would I know? And why the *fuck* would I care?"
*~ "Don't you want your powers back?" Angelus knelt in front of her, placing his face inches from hers.
*~ "Yes," Willow hissed, drawing her upper lip away from her teeth in a snarl, "But how am I supposed to do that when I can't even do a simple glamour? Arm-wrestle her for it? I'd bet you two hundred dollars that I'd even lose *that* contest."
*~ "What if I could give you the way to get back at her, and get your powers back?"
*~*~*~
Or that we'd be bought and sold
When we were innocent
*~*~*~
*~ "How?"
*~ "Give you the gift of death," Angelus smirked, his eyes purposely flashing amber. "Then we take out the bitch. And the slayer."
*~ "Yes," Willow hissed again, her green eyes narrowed into slits. "Do it."
*~ The last thing the injured redhead remembered as a human was his eyes as they turned from chocolate brown to burning amber, then there was pain, then darkness. Then she was alive.
*~*~*~
Satan, you know where I lie
*~*~*~