"Immortal Beloved..." CXII...

PG-13

Disclaimer: If ya are fan-fic writers, where's your disclaimers? Disclaimers? We ain't got no disclaimers...I don' need to show you no stinkin'...No, Joss, no...I make no claims, put that thing down!

It's all yours and ME's...

Spoilers for Angel to the bitter end...Flee at once!...

Summary: Though the standard IB format, one of (112) versions of events following the end of Angel S5 episodes from "Girl in Question" through to "Not Fade Away" and beyond... (Not a continuous story, though some are multipart...)

Archived (soon) at the 'Normal' Buffyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse at -https://www.angelfire.com/zine2/buffyrebecca/index.html, scroll down to "Immortal Beloved" series ...

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The great hall of Castle Immortale, imperial Alpine home of the famed Immortal...Where a dramatic confrontation of good and evil was taking place...

For once, Buffy a nervous and startlingly undecided onlooker...

"Buffy...I...I'm losing...I'm too weak to hang on!...You must help me...For William's sake!...Will you fail him yet again...Cicely?..." His Benevolence cried out to her as he held off Willow's series of mystic energy blasts...

"Willow...You'd better leave him for the Council...Let them decide what to do with him..." Buffy turned to her rather preoccupied friend...

"He's too... powerful...Most of the other Slayers and half the Council have fallen under his sway..." Willow shook her head grimly...Focusing all her power...

Heck even I had a little thing for him...And, ya know...she shrugged...

"Say...?" she briefly glanced Buffy's way... "Who's Cicely?..."

"Buffy..." a groan from the Immortal, struggling to maintain his shield... "If I am destroyed, William's protected status is gone...Even the spell that brought him to corporeality will be in jeopardy...You must help me...You know Willow has done evil herself..."

"Willow...Please...You don't understand...I need him..."

"Buffy..." a frown...

"No...Not that way..." the Slayer glared... "To save William...You don't know who William really was...Who I was..."

"I'm sorry about Spike, Buffy..." The Immortal's mystic energy shield flickered and seemed to collapse... "But this thing...has... to... die..."

And you can find another vamp boyfriend...

"No!..." She rammed Mr. Pointy into Willow's chest, the wiccan screaming in agony...

"Ha!!...You think that's power, you bitch?...Here's real power!!..." the Immortal rose, channeling his power directly at Willow... "Die, pseudo-goddess...!!!...And say hello in Hell to my spirit brother, Warren...!!!! "

Willow collapsed, dead before she hit the floor...Her body disappearing in sudden flame...Only a few smoking rags and bits left...

"Willow!...Oh, God..." Buffy gasped...

"It was her destiny..." His Benevolence smiled coldly, rising up, apparently none the worse for wear... "And now you must fulfill yours...Now, together we will bring an end to the destructive, endless conflict of Slayer and Demon...Saving your William as well as countless others...Once more the Immortals will rule on Earth!...Mankind will be safe under our benevolence protection..."

And peace...will be restored at last...

She trembled, staring at him...A brief struggle but finally she knelt as he came over to her... "I...I pledge myself to your teachings...I'll do whatever you ask...If you'll save my William..."

Ah...A benevolent leer of triumph...

Ummn... "Except butchering defenseless kids like Anakin Skywalker did...There are limits..." she noted...

"What?...Well...I suppose..."

"And speakin' of limits...Dawnie remains off-limits...And I do mean save...Deal's off if he's smoldering when we get to LA..."

"Of course, my dear...I would point out I have already brought him back and protected him for a year...You can trust me to deliver him safe to you..."

What's she mean by that crack about her sister?...I've always gone out of my way to be nice to Dawn...

"Shall we head for LA, my new apprentice?...Your William is in some danger..."

"Yeah...Really sorry about this, Willow!..." Buffy nodded at the smouldering remains... "But your soul's clear and free now..."

And you of all folks know how love can send ya for a spin...

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