Title: Issues
Summary: Angelus returns to Sunnydale and forces Buffy to deal with her intimacy issues.
Author: Dave A
Rating: 12
Feedback: PLEASE
Spoilers: Set during Season 5, just after Riley left.
Disclaimers: Joss is the man, everything belongs to him.
Distribution: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Buffy_Angel_FanFics2001 and anyone who asks.
Notes: This is my first attempt at FanFic. I’d love feedback but…be gentle
Dedication: To Annette, Iain and Matt who first got my interested in RPG’s
Buffy landed hard, the wind had been knocked out of her and her vision started to blur. “There’s always one.” She mumbled as she fought to regain her senses.
Buffy flipped herself back to her feet and faced up to the vampire. He was about 6ft tall and had to weigh a tonne. All of it muscle.
The vampire lunged, trying simultaneously to kick her in the chest and punch her in the head. Buffy deflected both blows and used the vamp’s momentum to spin him into a nearby crypt. The vamp was momentarily dazed but recovered quickly. Buffy decided to go on the offensive.
She punched the vampire three times in the head using both the front and back of her hands. Then she kicked him hard in the chest and swept his legs from under him. The vampire landed hard and was stunned. Buffy plunged the stake into his chest and pulled it out just before the vampire exploded into dust.
“And that is how we do that.” Buffy said to herself as she went to leave the cemetery. A noise stopped her; it was someone clapping behind her. Buffy turned and stared into the face of Angel.
“Bravo. Really.” Angel laughed as he continued to clap.
“Angel?” Buffy asked in a quiet voice.
“Guess again girlie.” Angel said as he vamped out.
“Angelus.” Buffy said flatly. She started to back away, all the while never taking her eyes of Angelus. “What happened?” Buffy asked quieter again.
Angelus began to circle Buffy, very slowly. “Funny story really,” He said, “There I was, being all guilt ridden vampire with a soul, fighting evil and remembering the pain I had caused.” Angelus smiled and leaned against a gravestone.
“When suddenly whoosh.” Angelus’s hands flailed in the air. “It was gone. No soul. I think maybe the powers that be.” He looked up towards the sky “Decided to have some fun.” When he looked down again his face was human again.
“Something must be wrong with the curse.” Buffy said, mostly to herself. ‘Willow can fix’ it she thought ‘She’ll know what to do.”
“How’s the boyfriend?”
Buffy had been so lost in thought that she hadn’t noticed Angelus slide right up to her, he was know only a few feet away. “What?” Buffy asked as she fingered the stake in her hand. Her eyes never left Angelus’s.
“I said, “How’s the boyfriend?”” Angelus looked confused for a second. “Ridley?”
“Riley.” Buffy said quietly. Riley had left only a few days ago and she was still hurting. Did Angelus know already? Had he been stalking her? “It didn’t work out.” She said out loud.
“Aww, did he leave you?” Angelus saw the hurt look on Buffy’s face and knew he had guessed right. “Everyone leaves you Buffy.” He said, playing on this new weakness. “Your dad left you, I left you, Riley left you.” Angelus said counting on his fingers as he went. He threw his arms out wide. “Hell, I bet even Giles is looking to go too.” He laughed.
“No-one can live with you Buffy, you’re too high-maintenance.” Angelus said.
Buffy drew back as though she’d been slapped. Angelus had found a real sore point and was pressing on it hard. “That’s not true.” Buffy said weakly. “I’m not high-maintenance.” She looked into his eyes, “Am I?”
“Sure, you’re always out here.” Angelus said indicating the cemetery. “But you should be there.” He saw the slightly confused look on Buffy’s face. “With them.” He clarified.
“I am there.” Buffy said defiantly. “It’s just…what I do his is more important.”
“Bingo.” Angelus said as he grabbed her shoulders and held her there. “You finally figured it out.”
Buffy shook free of his grasp and backed away. “Why are you here?” She asked suspiciously.
“Why, I came to kill you Buffy.” Angelus laughed. Buffy took up a fighting stance. “Whoa, not yet.” He laughed, “I thought I’d kill your friends and family first.”
Buffy started to back towards the cemetery gates. She had to warn the others, had to prepare.
“Where you going Slayer.” Angelus asked, “Why not just stake me?” Angelus put his finger to his chin and tapped a few times, then as if coming up with an idea he said. “Oh yeah, you cant.” He lowered his hand and moved forward quickly. Before Buffy knew what was happening he was a few inches from her face “You still love me.”
Buffy pushed him back and pulled the stake in front of her. “I’ve killed you before.” She said.
“But that was different, you did that to save the world.” Angelus said arrogantly “but can you do it for real, one on one, me against you…life and death.”
“Yes.” Buffy said firmly.
“I don’t believe you.” Angelus said. “You still love me.”
Buffy turned round and started to walk towards the cemetery gates.
“See. You can’t do it.” Angelus laughed. “We’re gonna have so much fun, I’m gonna kill Giles. Then I’m gonna torture Xander and then…” Angel said as if adding the Pierre de resistance. “I’m gonna turn Willow.”
Buffy stopped. She was still facing the other way. With her back to Angelus. ‘I have to stop him. I can’t let him do those things.’ She thought.
“And there’s nothing you can do about it. You can despise me Buffy, you can hate me all the way to hell and back, but when it comes down to it, you still love me.”
The stake came out of no where and landed straight in Angelus’s heart. He looked down in shock at the wood protruding from his chest.
“I guess I’m over you.” Buffy said as Angelus turned to dust. She smiled to herself and began to walk home.