"Willow!" he yelled. Frantically, he looked around him. She was gone.
  He got to his feet, and the world tilted. <whoa...maybe
  sit...can't...Willow...> Ok, so maybe his thoughts were less than
  coherent, but one image kept invading his spinning mind-Willow,
  definetely NOT listening to him, coming at Angel with the stick. With
  all of his strength, he pushed himself back up, slowly, and headed for
  Buffy's house as fast as he could on his shaky legs.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  She was floating. It was warm, and comfortable, and she was floating
  easily and without effort. Through the black of her float, a blinding
  red invaded. Dimly, she recognized it as pain. It was enough to knock
  her off balance, and send her crashing back to reality. Wary, she
  opened her eyes. Slowly, she looked left...right...trying to place
  where she was. <Lying down...red covers...alcove...big room...> She
  carefully thought out all of her impressions, searching her memories for
  where she might be. She had no clue. About to go back to sleep, she
  caught a figure moving out of the corner of her eye. It walked over to
  her, and gently brushed her hair out of her face. She had a strange
  feeling that she should be frightened, but he seemed so sweet...he
  lifted a glass up to her mouth. It was filled with a dark liquid that
  held a strange appeal to her. And she was so thirsty...she accepted the
  glass, and began to drink...and drink and drink. She felt herself
  fall-back towards the floating place, and faster than the stars even
  could. Oddly satisfied, she heard words fall from the figure's lips.

  "Goodnight, sweet Willow."

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Buffy was awaked from an incredible dream by an insistent tapping on her
  window. She turned her head, to see...Oz? What did he want? And why
  did he wear the terrified face?! Quickly, she ran to the window to let
  him in.

  "Oz, what's wrong? What happened to you?" She took in his glassy eyes
  and bloodied head. She reached to make sure nothing was broken, and he
  impatiently brushed her hand away.

  "It's not me. I'm fine." he objected.

  "Oh, yeah, you look great." she replied sarcastically.

  "It's Willow. She's-" he began to shake. "gone."

  "What? Gone? Where?" Buffy was beginning to get frantic.

  "Angel." he said, looking her dead in the eye.

  Feeling sick, she sat down. Bit by bit, she got the entire story out of
  him, up until the present. She got up and paced, thinking. <Giles. We
  need Giles...wait, why? I know where he'd take her if he didn't...NO!
  Stop that! She's NOT dead...she can't be.> She stopped. And resumed
  her pacing. <He'd take her to his house. Or the factory...no, Spike
  and Drusilla wouldn't go for that...so his house...now what?>

  Oz watched her pace, then lost himself in his thoughts. <I should've
  stopped him. I was with her...I'm a werewolf for God's sake. Why'd I
  let my guard down?> One of his other sides piped up. <Because she
  looked at you with that look...the one you've been waiting to see...the
  one with love in it.> The thought warmed him. <Yeah, she did, didn't
  she..? But I still should've protected her.> His self-berating was
  interrupted by and irate and terrified slayer. She had a plan.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  "Buffy, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Normally, Oz would
  be smarter than to insult a girl who could kick his ass blindfolded, but
  desperate times...

  "No, it's not! It's simple. Come on." she demanded, leaving no room
  for arguement. He opened his mouth to argue anyway, but shrugged and
  followed instead.

  They reached their destination in just under twenty minutes. Rounding
  the corner, Buffy threw herself against the door, which gave easily.
  They found themselves in a sparcely decorated room; Angel's room. It
  wasn't yet sunrise, but they would still have to hurry. Quickly, they
  searched his apartment. It was empty of human (or inhuman) life, and
  there were no signs of recent occupancy. Oz stopped near the
  neatly-made bed. A glint there had caught his eye. He bent down, and on
  the bed was Willow's necklace. He sank down on the bed, hung his head
  and began to cry. Buffy found him that way ten minutes later, after
  searching the rest of the apartment. Her heart broke a little at the
  sight of him, hunched over on Angel's bed, clutching something like a
  lifeline. She sat down next to him, and he wordlessly handed it to her.
  <Willow's necklace.> she thought, heart sinking. <So they were here.
  But now where were they?> Lost in thought, she didn't notice that Oz
  had quietly regained his composure.

  "Buffy." he said.

  "Yeah?" she asked, after her initial surprise at hearing his voice.

  "We're not going to find her, are we?" he asked softly.

  "Yes, we are! We *will* find her." she demanded.

  "How?" he silenced her with a word. She thought, desperately searching
  for a plan.

  "I don't know." she admitted with a sigh.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  Giles woke to the sound of pounding on his door at 4:00 a.m.

  "Just a minute!" he yelled. He fumbled for a light and his robe and
  stumbled down the stairs. Yanking open the door, he was greeted by the
  site of a frazzled slayer and a dejected Oz. "Oh dear. Wh-what on
  earth has happened?" he asked. He was filled in by Buffy and Oz
  working in tandem, each telling their part of the story.

  "...and on the way over here, we stopped at the factory, and
  we..uh.."spoke" to Willie the Snitch. Factory was empty, and Willie
  wasn't talking. Even after I-" Buffy finished.

  "Stop. I don't want to know what you did." Giles interrupted her.
  "Has anyone contacted Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg?" he inquired. Buffy and
  Oz looked at each other.

  "No." he said. "I'll fo it." He slowly walked to the phone and dialed
  the number he knew by heart. Buffy took Giles aside.

  "Giles, what do we do?" she asked.

  "Buffy, at this time, I think the only thing we can do is go through
  proper authorities and treat this like a kidnapping....and, uh, wait."
  he said slowly.

  "WAIT?!" she exploded. "Wait? My best friend is gone, possibly dead,
  possibly *worse*, and you want me to say 'Oh, here Incompetent Police,
  go battle vampires and find her.'? Are you nuts?"

  "Well what do you suggest?"

  "I-I don't know. I'm out of ideas. That's why I came to you." she
  admitted. Oz hung up the phone and made his way over to them. The
  conversation had been long and tiring, ending in the Rosenbergs asking
  him to the police station to make an official report. Of course, he'd
  agreed. He grabbed his coat and left. By now, it was almost 6:00 and
  Buffy went to Giles' phone to call everyone. They were all to meet at
  the school in half an hour. It was Saturday and probably one of the
  only days the school would be deserted.

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