Together in Death
The last thing Angel remembered was standing in an alleyway as hordes of hell beasts swarmed towards him and a dragon swooped down, covering them - Spike, Gunn, Ilyria and himself - with a wave of fire as it opened its mouth and emitted a sound between a screech and a roar.
Now he stood completely alone, surrounded by nothing. He knew he was dead, that he was no longer a vampire with a soul, but none of that mattered anymore. He wasn’t a champion, he knew that he had failed and had lost his war. He had lost in a fatal battle once before and gone to hell, but that was when he was playing on the opposite team. No, this wasn’t hell; this was different. Instead of being surrounded by complete and utter darkness - other than flames which had burned into his very soul for years until he was brought back to earth by the slayer’s love for him - he was surrounded by nothing but a white light. Was he in heaven? Probably. Did he deserve to be there? Perhaps. The real question was whether he could accept it, having been in the dark for so long.
He wasn’t the same being anymore, he was certain of that. A shell like the one he’d inhabited on earth no longer held its sway over him; he was nothing but pure energy - sort of like Dawn had been, but more than that. He was still the same person though. It took a while for him to accept it, but all that was left of him now was his soul. He was free. His once lover, a slayer named Buffy Summers, had been to heaven once and then been ripped out of it by her own friends. That wasn’t a possibility for him. Even if he wanted them to do it, he was almost certain that his friends had perished along with him in what really had turned out to be the final battle - for him, anyway. He wondered if Buffy knew, and about how she would feel about his death. Not his real death, of course, for he’d been dead for centuries before he even met her. He’d become a vampire and that’s why he and Buffy could never really be together. She killed his kind, and he was supposed to kill hers. The difference between him and other vampires, however, was that he was ‘cursed’ with his soul. In his opinion, his real curse was being made a vampire in the first place. He couldn’t be with her physically because if he was, and he reached a point of true happiness, then he’d lose his soul and probably end up killing all of her friends. If they were really meant to be - if they were really soul mates - then he and Buffy would have met someday, somewhere. Their love was wrong in many ways and so forbidden by many. That’s why he had left Sunnydale and gone to Los Angeles, although it didn’t stop him seeing her. One day she had come to him and he had spent a day with her as a human, a day that he considered the best of his life. His responsibilities got in the way again, however, and so he’d returned to being a vampire as the only person with any memory of that day. It had, quite simply, killed him to do so but it was necessary - for the greater good and such.
Thoughts of Buffy, and of the undead life he had led, clouded his mind for an unknown amount of time until a being, which he could only guess was an actual angel, came to him and spoke only one sentence before vanishing. "There was much debate over you, Angel, but it was decided that you are a worthy soul."
Time melted together and passed Angel by as he just hung there, content and peaceful in heaven, until the moment he heard her voice - her unmistakable, unforgettable voice.
"Sometimes I did think about it, and all I saw was you."
"Buffy," said Angel, turning to face her, unsure whether she was really there or if his eyes were deceiving him, "done baking, then?"
Buffy laughed and smiled at him. "I guess you could say that, seeing as I’m dead and all."
"It’s really you… how?" he asked, stepping towards her - or gliding, he wasn’t really sure what to call it.
"How did I die, again? Let’s just say you should never trust an immortal - other than those like you of course, although you’re not actually immortal anymore or you wouldn’t be here… Ok, Buffy, now would be a good time to stop." Buffy Replied, trailing off at the end. Angel always managed to make her babble, and completely lose control around him in general. "Okay, short story. The Immortal turned an army of slayers against me, thinking I was on the side of the bad. We managed to stop him but there was an extremely large number of casualties, including myself."
"Son of a… I could have told you about him, Buffy! I came to look for you in Rome, you know - well, Spike came along too but that’s beside the point. The Immortal doesn’t care about good or bad, just what works out well for him. Being immortal, he has to live with whatever happens so he makes sure that everything goes well for him, no matter what the cost may be. You should have learned to be more careful now anyway; what is this, your third time being dead?"
"I know you did, Andrew told me. I didn’t know what you wanted; otherwise I would have come to LA. It was all too much, with Spike being alive again and everything. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t in the mood for more childish soul-filled vampire squabbling. As I once told Spike, the only time I would have enjoyed you two fighting is if it involved oil of some kind, but I guess that’s never going to happen now. The Immortal got pretty chatty towards the end, though. He told me that he’d kept you away from me because…well, because you were evil." Upon seeing Angel’s face, shrouded in disbelief at the idea that Buffy would ever think he was evil - despite the fact that he’d turned evil on a number of occasions - Buffy continued. "What was I supposed to think, Angel? You got yourself in with Wolfram and Heart, the law firm that would give the rest of them a bad name - if they weren’t already hotbeds of evil that is. And then you came to Rome and I’m told that it’s to attack, and evil kill, me."
"I guess you’re right, but I assure you that what we were doing there was nothing but good. We were…"
"You were trying to bring it down from the inside," Buffy cut it, "I know. But by the time we all realised, it was too late. You were gone; you’d died fighting the forces of darkness, as I should have known you had been all along. I would have come to you, you know; I would have helped."
"I know you would, but it sounds to me like you had enough to deal with yourself. So let’s just drop it, okay?"
"Look who’s all forceful and glowing, and in heaven too." Noting the look on his face, she continued, her face softening. "Okay." Buffy then turned away, looking rather thoughtful, for a moment. When she looked back at Angel, it was with a look of realisation on her face. "This place is different than the last time I was here…and I think - no, I know - that it’s because I’m with you. I love you, Angel, I always have. Riley and Parker were just attempts at being normal, and Spike - it was just lust with him. I… I needed to feel then, and he was there for me - was pretty much devoted to me. But I was wrong; the only person I’ve ever really loved is you - even though I knew we could never be together. But we can now, and that’s what makes it different. We can spend eternity together, without any consequences. I mean, come on, we’ve earned it."
"I’d certainly say we have." Angel said, moving closer to Buffy. "I love you too, Buffy; I’ve loved you since I first saw you sitting outside your high school in LA."
"You know, I always found the thought of that a little bit creepy…" said Buffy, with a cringe.
"Oh." Angel, looking taken aback, didn’t know what to say.
"Kidding!" Buffy said quickly, seeing his reaction. "Well, kind of…" she continued, quietly enough that Angel couldn’t hear her. "Ugh, just come here already!" Buffy bridged the gap behind the two of them in an instant and pulled him into a passionate kiss. When the kiss ended, after what seemed like an exceptionally long time, Buffy leaned her head on Angel’s shoulder and he held her close.
"Wow, those sure were some nice cookies." Angel said with a grin on his face, unable to resist doing so.
"Oh, shut up." Buffy replied, and she poked him in the ribs before leaning in for another kiss.
Angel complied, and as they stood there entwined something amazing happened. Their bodies glowed, ignited by their love, and they floated, slowly turning into misty, ghost-like, versions of themselves. After a while they seemed to merge into one non-distinctive essence. The presence, barely visible, hovered in that spot for eternity - a symbol of the two and their eternal love for each other. They were once warriors, driven apart by their callings - the chosen one and the champion. They had been destined to be together, but fated to be apart. In heaven, however, everyone was equal. Having each fulfilled their separate destinies; they could finally be together in a spiritual manner that neither could have ever imagined.
Fandom(s): BtvS and Ats.
Summary: A vampire and a slayer... Forbidden lovers destined to be together, but fated to be apart. On earth they were pushed in opposite directions, but will they be brought together in death?