No Greater Love… (Second of thee Heroes fics)
jadzia_worf@yahoo.com
SPOILER WARNING:  Big time for "Heroes" (ep9), snippet
for "I will remember you"
*Goodbye Buffy* I braced myself… Someone HAD to stop
this monstrous travesty from happening, and - as my
friends would remind me - I was the hero… Saving these
innocents and my friends…

My redemption at last… I know I can count on Cordy to
remember me to Buffy… 
*My love.. Its better this way…*
Better I don’t live for ever with the perfect memory I
can never recreate.

"Angel this is suicide!" Cordy argues with me…
stubborn, loyal Cordelia. I simply smile gently at
her. Doyle understands though.. he puts his hand on my
shoulder.

"Fight the good fight? You never know what you’re made
of until you’re tested…?"

 He remembers our earlier talk… I know in that moment
he’ll tell Buffy how much I loved her. I smile goodbye
to my friend…

…who promptly decks me with a vicious punch and it all
becomes desperately clear as I crash to the
deck-plates, winded and momentarily dazed.. I shake it
off and look up, panicked. I see my friends sharing a
bittersweet kiss… I have to stop him!  He’s just
gotten into the heart of the woman he loves! Doyle 
C A N N O T die now!

I leap to my feet and fly up the ladder, hearing his
goodbye to Cordy. Its heartbreaking.

"Too bad we never found out.. if this was a face you
could learn to love."

And he leaps over to the cruel invention… and my
stomach fills with dread, grief, anger and pride all
at once.  His is not an easy death, the smell of
burning flesh fills the hold… But he clings on,
pulling until he wrenches the cables apart.  I’ll
never, NEVER for the rest of my immortal life, forget
the scream of my first true friend as he burned to
death to save those who needed a sacrifice to live… as
he burned to death to stop me from that terrible fate.

A verse of scripture comes, unbidden to my mind as I
mourn the passing of a hero… Of my friend, Allan
Francis Doyle… He gave me back my desire for
redemption; set me back on the path of the right.  He
let me unburden my soul by listening to me talk of my
perfect day with Buffy that never was.

    "No Greater Love Hath a Man, Than That He Lay Down
His Life For His Friends.."

Its a fitting epitaph for one who fought the good
fight… who was tested and came out stronger, braver
and nobler than he gave himself credit for…
Doyle, my friend… I will never forget.

Prophesy's Diary