The Wheel
Disclaimers: See part one
Part Two
Angel was lost. An empty gray was all around him. There was nothing - no ground, no up, no down, no left, no right…yet somehow Angel knew he was falling. Lost. The gray darkened in response to his despair.
Then sensation a hand grasping at his. Small and strong, warm and familiar, it was a piece of reality in the midst of the unreal. Everything snapped into place at that touch the ground materialized beneath his feet, location defined itself, and the gray lightened. It was no more real than before though, like an amorphous mist that could give rise to anything at ant moment. It was disorienting. Angel swayed on his feet.
A second hand on his arm steadied him, and Angel could have wept at the familiar touch. "Oh, Angel," she whispered, her beautiful voice a mix of concern, love, and sadness, "you shouldn't be here."
"Wherever you are, I'll be," Angel whispered back. He did not look at her, afraid of what he might see.
"Don't say that," she said strongly, her voice harsh. "It's not true."
Angel turned at her hurt tone and finally looked at Buffy. She was vibrant and beautiful, almost more so than he remembered. There was a light in her eyes he could put no name to. She seemed to brighten the darkness around them. It made the pain on her face all the more horrible. Angel took her hands in his and looked into her strange eyes. "It is true. It always has been. In my heart, I'm always with you."
Buffy placed a hand on his chest in a gesture that was achingly familiar. "Your soul is with me?" she asked softly, seeming almost childlike.
"Yes," Angel whispered back.
Buffy smiled sadly yet with understanding. "Not anymore, Angel. You can't stay here. You have to go back."
"Here?"
"Between places," Buffy explained. "I'm sorry. You can't follow me here."
"I don't know how to go back," Angel said with certainty.
"You have to."
"Do you want me to go?" Angel asked softly.
"I…you have to."
"Do you want me to?"
"I never wanted you to leave," Buffy whispered. It was barely audible.
"Then I'll stay."
Buffy smiled, but it was still tinged with sadness. "You can't stay forever."
"Then as long as I can."
She took his hand again and squeezed it slightly. "Walk with me?"
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