The next step taken
Cautiously as first
As the heart takes hold
and makes the mold
to never again fold
and no longer let go

“Do you have to leave?” Willow asked him just loud enough over the music below them.

“Acathla is closed. That’s what I was meant to do here,” he replied.

Willow turned around, not wanting to let him see her as a tear fell. A new song began, echoing in the night.

The rope that’s wrapped around me
Is cutting through my skin
And the doubts that have surrounded me
are finding their way in
I keep it close to me
Like a holy man prays
In my desperate hour
It’s better, better that way

“When are you leaving?” Willow asked as her heart began to slowly break.

“Tomorrow night,” he replied, knowing the sooner he left the better they would both be off.

“Will you come and visit me?” she asked, trying to hold on to some hope.

All he had to do was say no, to say no and try to forget her, try to let her live a normal life without him though it tore him in half.

So I’ll come by and see you again
I’ll be such a very good friend
Have mercy on my soul
I will never let you know
Where my mind has been

But he couldn’t

“Yeah, your my best friend,” he replied, partly telling her the truth.

“Good, ‘cause your mine too,” she replied. “I can help you pack.”

“I already have.”

“Oh.”

She couldn’t help but let more tears fall as her entire life slipped through her fingers.

Angels never came down
There’s no one here they want
to hang around
But if they knew
if they knew you at all
Then one by one the angels
Angels could fall

“Do you have to leave so soon. It’s only been a day since you stopped Spike and Dru.. you’re not even completely healed and....”

“I’m leaving tomorrow, Willow. I’m fine.”

Willow turned to her side, using her hair to block his view of her face. She should have known better then to fall in love with him, but she couldn’t stop it.  He was everything to her, he was her world and now he was leaving. She had been a silly girl to
think that maybe, just maybe, a small part of him could love her more then a friend, just a tiny bit.

“Then this is it,” she said sadly.

“This isn’t an end,” he lied. “Now you can spend more time with Xander,  Buffy, Oz.... you’ll be able to hang around them without stressing over me and them. I know I took you away from them...”

“No. Don’t you ever think that. You didn’t take me from them.... you saved me from them.”

I’ve crept into your temple
I have slept upon your pew
I’ve dreamed of the divinity
Inside and out of you
I want it more then truth
I can taste it on my breath
I would give you my life just for a little, little death

Angel looked up at her in surprise. This was harder then anything he had ever done. But he loved her and knew she deserved someone so much better then him. How could she want a monster in her life?

“Willow... I.... you’ll be happier with them....”

“Why... because they don't know me like you do? Because they don’t  understand me like you do?” she asked him.

“Because you can go out with them in the day.... eat dinner with them.....have what you had before.....”

“The hellmouth isn’t closed. Nothing will be like it was before, I wouldn’t want it that way again.”

So I’ll come by an see you again
I’ll be such a very good friend
I will not look upon your face
I will not touch upon your grace
Your ecclesiastic skin

“It’s better this way,” he tried to reason

“No, it’s best for you,” she replied as she moved to the stairs.

“Willow, no... this is for you.... so you can have a normal life.. normal friends.....” he said, voicing feelings that he had tried to use on himself to let her go.

“No, I don’t want a  normal life, I don’t need one. What I need is you.”

Angel remained quite, his resolve weakening. She turned and walked up to him, masking herself, not letting him see how hurt she was. If this was what he needed to do, then she needed to let him go, even if it killed her.

Angels never came down
There’s no one here they want
to hang around
But if they knew you at all
Then one by one the angels
Angels could fall

She placed her hand on his cheek and looked deep into his eyes.
 
“Good bye, Angel.”

She placed a gentle kiss on his lips, their first and moved away. She turned around and let her tears fall as she disappeared from the roof.

Angel closed his eyes and let a tear fall.

I’ll come by and see you again
I’ll have to be a very good friend
If I whisper they will know
I’ll just turn around and go
You will never know my sin

Willow ran down the stairs and pushed open the door. She had planed to make it to her house, but she never made it. She didn’t even make it across the street before she was pulled back, colliding against a hard body.

“Come with me?”

Willow turned her head in disbelief, not sure she had head him correctly. Seeing the confusion in her eyes he repeated the simply request again.

“Come with me.”

Angeles never came down
There’s no one here they want
to hang around
But if they knew you at all
Then one by one the angels
Angels could fall

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