He felt hands rest on his shoulders and a soft cheek brush up against his
  own. He took one of those hands and brought it to his lips. Jenny Calendar
  made her way around the sofa and sat on his lap.

  Jenny had not known Willow as well as the rest of the group, but Willow's
  keen mind and bright spirit had touched her life. So if it was difficult
  for her to accept her death, than it must be doubly so for Rupert. Jenny
  wanted so much to take away his pain. She brushed her lips against his
  forehead and then his temple and down his jaw. She kissed him lightly on
  the lips just before he broke out into a muffled cry. His dam of grief
  flooded open. Giles had had to keep it together for Buffy and Xander's
  sakes. He had deliberately bottled his emotions but now Jenny's gentle,
  unassuming display of affection and support finally broke through his
  defenses.

  But Giles didn't have long to indulge his grief, for almost at once his
  door bell began to ring insistently. Composing himself while Jenny answered
  the door, he stood up to find a stranger being ushered in.

  It was Brother Lugo.

  Introductions were barely made before the agitated monk burst out, "Willow.
  I read the signs and know what's happened. We must save her."

  "I'm afraid it's too late. Willow is…she's already dead." Giles shoulders
  slumped and he sat down again as if weighted down by the added
  responsibility of having to inform yet another person of what had occurred.

  Shocked, Brother Lugo exchanged a glance with Jenny who nodded
  miserably.
  "Then, then you've severed the bond?" the monk asked urgently. Seeing the
  incomprehension, he stated, "You don't know."

  As inconceivable as it seemed, renewed anxiety wound its way into Giles'
  stomach.

  "We must rescue her before the sun sets on this day. We must sever the
  bond
  and save her," Brother Lugo repeated himself feverishly.

  "Save her? She's DEAD!" Giles said bluntly, hating himself even as he spoke
  the harsh words. But Willow *was* dead, there was nothing more any of them

  could do for her.

  "No. Not her life. Her soul. Don't you understand? Her soul is bound to the
  Anointed One's." The monk stared at Giles. "Willow is in hell!"

  *~*~*~*~*

  Angel stood. Still. Motionless. Staring at Willow as he had done for the
  last hour. Mechanically, Angel had carried her body away from the
  Hellmouth, out of that accursed place. He took her to his apartment, laying
  out her body in a bitter imitation of a wake. Yet his mind could not wrap
  itself around the reality that Willow was dead. He was trapped in riddles
  of endless wondering on how he might have changed things, a gossamer
  thread
  of sanity, seeking, venturing for any alternatives to this horrible reality.

  His eyes opaque with pain, Angel couldn't begin to say how having Willow in
  his life had gentled his world. The wreckage of his life -- the dreams that
  had gone awry, the ones that never had a chance of coming to fruition --
  Willow could have made right. For all those lost paths weren't the ones
  that had led him to her.

  But now she was gone.

  Forevers seem to have been laid aside by a fate that rent and clawed at his
  soul. What did he have to look forward to now? He had lived for over two
  hundred years, most of them as a monster and he had continued on after
  regaining his soul with the thought to redeem himself. But grief like a
  blade pierced him and Angel wouldn't just allow the pain to fester and kill
  him with uncaring apathy. His pitiless existence was long past the time to
  be ended. It wasn't long now. He only waited for nightfall. Then he would
  bury Willow's body, and come morning, Angel would allow the sun's rays to
  turn him to ashes over her grave.

  His hand drifted to her face and at first, he only brushed a strand of hair
  from her forehead. Then, his fingertips smoothed along the soft skin of her
  cheek. Over and over, he repeated the caress.

  Obliquely Angel heard the door to his apartment being pounded on. He didn't
  move. He didn't care.

  In the end Buffy had to bust down the door.

  Right behind her was Xander, Giles, Brother Lugo and Ms. Calendar. Buffy
  and Xander had not been told anything yet but the news that there was a
  situation related to Willow had sent them all charging immediately over to
  Angel's place. Then Brother Lugo once again related exactly why he had
  come
  to Sunnydale.

  His words were electric.

  Stricken even more than any of them could have imagined before, none had
  considered this possibility. That she died had been terrible enough. That
  Willow, who knowingly had sacrificed herself for them, who embodied all the
  good in their lives, might at this moment be in hell was beyond unthinkable.

  "I found all this out by reading of a similar instance." Brother Lugo told
  them all. "As you know, when I helped Willow destroy her demon, the
  information we used had been provided by a priest, the confidant of a young
  girl who had been made a vampire in circumstances similar to that of
  Willow's. Studying and researching led me to more information on her fate.
  This girl destroyed her vampiric demon and in the end she became intent on
  destroying her sire Rapano too. Finding no other way to carry out her
  plans, she fooled Rapano into undergoing the Ritual of Binding with her.
  She knew it would have no effect on her and that during the time of their
  bond she could kill herself and thus kill Rapano as well. She put a stake
  through her heart. It was quite effective, both she and Rapano perished."

  Brother Lugo's audience was held in rapt attention. The correlations to and
  the differences in Willow's situation were quickly formed in their minds.

  "One thing that is quite clear was that before she decided on her course,
  she went to her priest for absolution and made him promise to free her soul
  from the bond with Rapano, and release her soul from hell. This was all
  very interesting, but when I read the latest prophesy, the very one that
  Mr. Giles discovered, and when I came to understand it and the import of
  its effect on Willow, I hurried here to Sunnydale as soon as I could. I
  have here with me that same releasing spell for Willow. Ms. Calendar has
  said that she will help me prepare everything that we need. It isn't too
  difficult to break the bond, but it needs to be done before sundown. If we
  wait longer than that the next time we can try is next year on this day and
  even then it won't have as good of a chance of succeeding as it will today.
  So we have no time to waste."

  Xander burst in excitedly, "Once Willow's cut loose from the Anointed One,
  she'll be able to come back to her body, right?"

  "The bond should be broken, releasing Willow's soul, but I have no idea how
  to guide her soul back to her body or if it's even possible."

  "Isn't there something we can try?" Buffy asked.

  Giles shook his head and Brother Lugo looked equally at a loss.

  Xander turned to Angel abruptly. "What about your blood and all the vampire
  stuff?"

  "Have Angel become a second kind of sire, you mean?" Brother Lugo said
  thoughtfully. There was silence for a moment as he examined the suggestion
  seriously. "It might work."

  "But there's also the chance that it'll only resurrect the demon in her
  body," Giles interjected. "Her soul might then be trapped elsewhere after
  we release it from hell."

  "I can't do that," Angel said slowly.

  They were running out of options and Xander couldn't believe that Angel was
  unwilling to even make an effort. "If you cared for Willow at all you'd
  try," he yelled.

  "I LOVE her!" Angel lashed back. "But I wouldn't do that to her. Put a
  demon back in her body? She'd rather be dead! And if the worst happened,
  I-I couldn't even give her peace. I could never…. release her."

  "She doesn't have time for this. I'll take responsibility. I'll-I'll do
  whatever needs to be done. No matter what the consequences." Xander's red
  rimmed eyes showed an unwavering resolve in that vow. "So long as she gets

  a chance!"

  Buffy held Xander's hand and added her voice to his. "Try Angel? We HAVE
  to
  try something."

  Angel's uncertainty was outweighed by their insistence. He glanced at Giles
  who tacitly made his decision in favor of this desperate plan. It seemed
  ultimately that Xander had enough hope and belief for them all.

  *~*~*~*~*

  It was dark.

  So very, very dark.

  It was the total absence of light.

  The total absence of hope.

  The total absence of anything that kept one sane.

  In the deepest depths of Hell, Willow didn't even try to contemplate what
  this existence was like. To describe Hell as an endlessly desolate
  landscape was to do injustice to the perfect inky blackness and emptiness
  throughout. There were no infernal spheres of sin, no devises of torment,
  no pits of burning damnation. There was nothing. Nothing except the beings
  that were banished here.

  But that was torture enough. For there was nothing worse that could be done
  to the denizens of Hell than what they did to each other. Demons, vampires
  and hosts of other unspeakable entities, as well as a few human souls who,
  despite canonical indoctrination, were an exception here since there were
  only people who truly had earned the label 'monster' - these all wandered
  blindly about the void, wreaking havoc upon one another as was their
  inescapable nature to do so.

  Willow was oddity in Hell. She kept very still, avoiding any and all who
  might have preyed on her. She didn't know how long she'd been here. Time
  was of little consequence and meditation of an eternity here would lead to
  utter insanity. Instead she withdrew inside herself, centering her being in
  the one place in Hell that held even a spark of real humanity.

  Suddenly, Willow felt herself jerk upward. Freed from whatever numinous
  tether which held her, she felt the sensation of her soul floating up, up
  like a balloon released from its mooring. Alarmed at first, then filled
  with a shimmering hope, Hell slowly melted away from Willow as darkness
  does with the rising of the morning sun.

  Strangely, Willow then found herself hovering over her body. Curiously she
  looked down at the scene below her. All of her friends were with her, each
  willing her to return to them. Somehow, perhaps in a divine inspiration,
  Willow understood that she was being given a choice. It wasn't an easy one.
  She could come back to her body or she could continue on, to follow the
  indescribable beauty of the call strumming through her being -beckoning her
  with the promise of ineffable peace.

  Willow gazed one last time at the dear faces of her friends, lingering on
  Angel's before determining her course. Then her soul's ephemeral form
  vanished.

  *~*~*~*~*

  The minutes ticked by with agonizing speed. None of them knew if the
  results would be immediate, but it seemed that the longer it took for
  something to happen, the less likely that Willow would come back to them.

  Brother Lugo sighed deeply. The spell had worked, of that he was sure.
  Getting Willow back alive had been the long shot. At least her soul was at
  rest. Nevertheless, he wished he could alleviate the pain of this
  disappointment, this final blow to all their hopes. He didn't know Willow's
  friends very well, but he could tell that they were brave, good people
  devastated by her death.

  And Angel - whose face looked as if it were carved from stone - how tragic
  this was for him. Brother Lugo shook his head as he sadly pondered the
  vampire with a soul. This had been a solitary man. A man who did not smile
  easily, who was not prone to laughter, who expected no happiness in his
  life. Yet he had begun to do all those things during the time he had been
  with Willow, and Brother Lugo had been witness to this slow transformation.
  Although the monk admitted he was not well versed in matters of the heart,
  it had been manifestly transparent that Willow and Angel loved one another.
  Brother Lugo mourned especially for Angel's terrible loss.

  Another minute passed by and still there was nothing. The silence was
  nearly unbearable.

  Angel's eyes fell from Willow's face to gaze unseeing at the ground. He
  could no longer look at her and cope in front of everyone. He had only done
  his part in this plan for Xander and Buffy's sake. Angel hadn't retained
  any real hope that this would work, it had died for him along with Willow.
  Nevertheless, he felt broken and shattered inside.

  Yet as he looked up once more, Angel froze.

  Wild hope and equally wild fear, that what he saw wasn't real, rushed
  through him with painful intensity --

  -- Willow's eyes moved again, then fluttered open.