By: Sarah Latta(Crystal Dawn)
**NOTE: This is a fanfic from Angel's POV, when Buffy told him that she wasn't coming back(at the end of Lovers Walk).
As she enters the mansion, my heart lights up like a million roman candles. She's much more than a friend, she's the light of my life. I speak, and she tells me she's not coming back. That blow, so unexpected and sudden, felt an endless amount worse than the time she sent me to Hell, so long ago... My world shatters in that instant. How can this be? How can we never see each other again? It seems so impossible. She goes on to explain that we're not friends, that we never were. I didn't have to be told that to know. My heart already knew. It had never, ever stopped loving her..even after she sent me to Hell..even after hundreds upon hundreds of years of endless, brutal, inhumane torture..even after going insane. That love had remained intact, untouched by all of the events that had taken shape. It had never stopped, and it never would. She tells me that she can fool the others, but not herself..and my mind's becoming frantic with the fear of losing her, again. She continues on, and all the while my heart's breaking, shattering like glass with each word. I know that our time together is lessening, and that soon I may never see her again. She says I don't need her to take care of me anymore, but she's wrong. I need her more than she could ever know. I tell her that I don't accept that, and she tells me I have to. Time is passing, for it never stops. I wish it would freeze, but of course, it won't. Soon she'll be gone. In desperation, I tell her that there's gotta be some way we can still see each other. As she tells me there is, my hopes soar, and I hold on desperately to that... But it's not to be. My hopes are crushed as she wants me to tell her the one thing I never could. She wants me to tell her that I don't love her. I think she knew I couldn't, and as I stand, stunned and speachless, she walks away. My heart calls out, but I remain silent. As she leaves, so does my hope...then she's gone. Just gone. Who knew that mere absence could cause so much pain, so much heartache. I am alone...without her...forever. I sit for the longest time, thinking of nothing but her. I whisper 'I love you' to the silence, hoping my words will somehow reach her, wherever she may be. The dead quiet of the mansion is all that replies. Without her, silence will ever remain the only response to those three precious words. I love you.