BtVS Fic: Promises
Title: Promises
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Angel, Buffy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 927
Spoilers: Surprise.
Summary: As Buffy and Angel say their goodbyes on the Sunnydale docks, he gives her a birthday gift.
Written For: Challenge 250: Promise at fan_flashworks. Also for the ‘Ring’ square on my bingo card.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BTVS, or the characters. Dialogue borrowed from the episode.
This isn’t the way Angel had planned it; Buffy’s birthday was supposed to be a special evening, a happy one surrounded by her friends, with music, and cake, and gifts. Instead, here they are at the docks in the dead of night, with Angel about to leave by ship for who knows where, taking with him this box containing a piece of the Judge, in an effort to keep Spike and Drusilla from resurrecting the powerful demon.
The gift he brought for Buffy is still in his pocket; he knows if he doesn’t give it to her now, he may never get another chance because she’s right, there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be before he can return, or if she’ll still be here, alive, when he finally does. There’s no guarantee he’ll survive to return either. There’s been a target on Angel’s back since he sided with the Slayer, and there are plenty of vampires and demons who’d like to see him dead.
Still, he won’t add his doubts and worries to Buffy’s; she’s burdened enough as it is, she doesn’t need anything else piled on her deceptively fragile shoulders, so he tries his best to stay positive, optimistic, even while his un-beating heart is being ripped to shreds inside his chest. He loves her so much; the last thing he wants is to leave her, but there he has no choice. The Judge is too powerful. If all the scattered pieces of him are brought together he’ll be unstoppable. Not even Buffy, with all her Slayer powers, can hope to defeat him.
In a few minutes they’ll have to say their goodbyes, but first Angel digs into his pocket and brings out the ring he brought for her.
“I have something for you. For your birthday. I… I was gonna give it to you earlier, but…” He doesn’t need to finish the sentence; Buffy understands. As usual, things haven’t gone as planned. On the Hellmouth they seldom do, that’s just they way it is. He holds the ring out to her in the hazy light of the streetlamps that line the docks; it looks so tiny and delicate in his hand, like Buffy herself.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathes, her voice catching slightly.
He wants to say, ‘It is, but not as beautiful as you,’ might have done so if he’d given it to her at her party, but now although it still holds true, it feels the wrong thing to say; it would just hurt her more, so instead he simply explains the symbolism of its design.
“My people, before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.” He holds up his hand for her to see; the ring he’s wearing is identical to hers except in terms of size.
Gently he slips Buffy’s ring onto her finger; it’s his promise to her, a promise of love and devotion, yes, but also a promise to return to her as soon as he’s able, a promise to remember and to treasure every memory of her until they meet again.
She’s so young; does she understand the depths of what he feels for her? He would marry her if that were possible, right now, right here on these dingy docks. He’d promise himself to her for all eternity and never leave her side for as long as they both live. But he’s not alive; he’s a vampire, one of the walking dead, and she’s the Slayer, and as much as he wishes he could, he can’t stay. For Buffy’s sake, for all of Sunnydale, for the world and everyone in it, he has to leave and take that accursed box with him; there’s no other way to stop Spike’s plans, and they both know it.
Angel’s promises are real though, and he means them with all his heart, both the spoken ones and those he dares not give voice to. He will return to her, and when he does, if he has his way, he’ll never leave her again. Marrying her is an unrealistic fantasy, but he can still pledge himself to her service, be her protector, her knight, defending her honor. In other circumstances that thought might have brought a smile to his lips, but not now.
They can’t put this off any longer, have already delayed longer than they should have, but goodbye is such a hard word to say, and there are so many other things Angel wants to tell Buffy, if they only had more time. It’s all slipping away from them far too fast; just a farewell kiss and then he’ll go, a few more precious moments to hold her close and breathe her scent, and pray that she’ll be safe until he can return…
But it’s already too late; neither of them had wanted him to leave and now, set upon by Spike’s minions, Angel’s lost both his chance of slipping away and the box he’d been charged with hiding, probably dooming the whole world in the process.
As he dives into the cold, black water to save Buffy, all Angel can do now is to make a new promise, to stand beside the Slayer and her friends in the battle to come, to do all he can to help them find a way of defeating the Judge, or to die trying.
The End
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Angel, Buffy.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 927
Spoilers: Surprise.
Summary: As Buffy and Angel say their goodbyes on the Sunnydale docks, he gives her a birthday gift.
Written For: Challenge 250: Promise at fan_flashworks. Also for the ‘Ring’ square on my bingo card.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BTVS, or the characters. Dialogue borrowed from the episode.
This isn’t the way Angel had planned it; Buffy’s birthday was supposed to be a special evening, a happy one surrounded by her friends, with music, and cake, and gifts. Instead, here they are at the docks in the dead of night, with Angel about to leave by ship for who knows where, taking with him this box containing a piece of the Judge, in an effort to keep Spike and Drusilla from resurrecting the powerful demon.
The gift he brought for Buffy is still in his pocket; he knows if he doesn’t give it to her now, he may never get another chance because she’s right, there’s no way of knowing how long it’ll be before he can return, or if she’ll still be here, alive, when he finally does. There’s no guarantee he’ll survive to return either. There’s been a target on Angel’s back since he sided with the Slayer, and there are plenty of vampires and demons who’d like to see him dead.
Still, he won’t add his doubts and worries to Buffy’s; she’s burdened enough as it is, she doesn’t need anything else piled on her deceptively fragile shoulders, so he tries his best to stay positive, optimistic, even while his un-beating heart is being ripped to shreds inside his chest. He loves her so much; the last thing he wants is to leave her, but there he has no choice. The Judge is too powerful. If all the scattered pieces of him are brought together he’ll be unstoppable. Not even Buffy, with all her Slayer powers, can hope to defeat him.
In a few minutes they’ll have to say their goodbyes, but first Angel digs into his pocket and brings out the ring he brought for her.
“I have something for you. For your birthday. I… I was gonna give it to you earlier, but…” He doesn’t need to finish the sentence; Buffy understands. As usual, things haven’t gone as planned. On the Hellmouth they seldom do, that’s just they way it is. He holds the ring out to her in the hazy light of the streetlamps that line the docks; it looks so tiny and delicate in his hand, like Buffy herself.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathes, her voice catching slightly.
He wants to say, ‘It is, but not as beautiful as you,’ might have done so if he’d given it to her at her party, but now although it still holds true, it feels the wrong thing to say; it would just hurt her more, so instead he simply explains the symbolism of its design.
“My people, before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.” He holds up his hand for her to see; the ring he’s wearing is identical to hers except in terms of size.
Gently he slips Buffy’s ring onto her finger; it’s his promise to her, a promise of love and devotion, yes, but also a promise to return to her as soon as he’s able, a promise to remember and to treasure every memory of her until they meet again.
She’s so young; does she understand the depths of what he feels for her? He would marry her if that were possible, right now, right here on these dingy docks. He’d promise himself to her for all eternity and never leave her side for as long as they both live. But he’s not alive; he’s a vampire, one of the walking dead, and she’s the Slayer, and as much as he wishes he could, he can’t stay. For Buffy’s sake, for all of Sunnydale, for the world and everyone in it, he has to leave and take that accursed box with him; there’s no other way to stop Spike’s plans, and they both know it.
Angel’s promises are real though, and he means them with all his heart, both the spoken ones and those he dares not give voice to. He will return to her, and when he does, if he has his way, he’ll never leave her again. Marrying her is an unrealistic fantasy, but he can still pledge himself to her service, be her protector, her knight, defending her honor. In other circumstances that thought might have brought a smile to his lips, but not now.
They can’t put this off any longer, have already delayed longer than they should have, but goodbye is such a hard word to say, and there are so many other things Angel wants to tell Buffy, if they only had more time. It’s all slipping away from them far too fast; just a farewell kiss and then he’ll go, a few more precious moments to hold her close and breathe her scent, and pray that she’ll be safe until he can return…
But it’s already too late; neither of them had wanted him to leave and now, set upon by Spike’s minions, Angel’s lost both his chance of slipping away and the box he’d been charged with hiding, probably dooming the whole world in the process.
As he dives into the cold, black water to save Buffy, all Angel can do now is to make a new promise, to stand beside the Slayer and her friends in the battle to come, to do all he can to help them find a way of defeating the Judge, or to die trying.
The End