"So Far Away" \\IF YOU LEAVE where will you go? Before the regret you hold in your heart will start to show... IF YOU LEAVE how will you know? If our ever after ever had a chance to grow!// Buffy's heart pounded as she raced across town. Her feet slapped the pavement and her hair streamed behind her. People stopped to stare but she didn't even notice them. Xander's words echoed in her head. She couldn't lose him. He was so close to being The One if he actually wasn't. And Xander had been right. He had started off as Angel's rebound but he was so much more than that. \\DO YOU DREAM or do you sleep? Do you pick and choose amongst the jewels for one to keep? DO YOU WISH upon a star? Or does everything just out of reach seem just too far away?// Riley checked his watch again. He could hardly believe she wasn't coming. His brain told him to forget it. That he knew she wouldn't come. Yet his heart teased him. Told him to wait. That part of her would wake up and realize that she wanted him. These conflicting emotions pulled him back and forth between the edge of the landing pad and the woods beyond. \\NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE! LET ALONE YOU WON'T FORGET MY NAME! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! WHEN YOU'RE SO FAR AWAY... // Just a little bit further and she would be there. But there wasn't enough time. God there wasn't enough time. She was being punished. Punished for not loving him enough when he needed it. For not listening. She was hurting him so deeply because she was selfish. She pushed harder. Her legs were aching and burning from the poor shoes but she buried the pain deep in her mind. She let her feelings guide her to him. She reached out with her mind begging him to wait. \\...So deep you say. But no matter where you go it all ends up the same! DO YOU WISH upon a star? Or does everything just out of reach seem just too far away?// Riley looked again at the woods around him. There was nothing save for the rustling from a small creature soon to be killed by a larger. Graham was waving from the helicopter. His stuff was packed away. All he needed was to let go. Let his last hopes die. But he couldn't. Not until that seconds hand chimed midnight and his destiny would be sealed. The moon glowed silver above, reflecting a pale light across the secluded area. \\NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE! LET ALONE YOU WON'T FORGET MY NAME! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! WHEN YOU'RE SO FAR AWAY... // Buffy's lungs burned with a fire unfelt before. Buffy's eyes threatened to cross themselves as she reached the thicket near the military base. Her hands reached up and began the climb up the chain link fence. Each rung numbed her fingers as she scrambled. At the top she wrestled with the barbed wire before tearing her pant leg and tumbling over. She kept going knowing her leg was dripping blood and she would have to get a tetanus shot. \\What you lose is what you know! Where you go is where you grow! How near we've come has yet to show! We've come so close yet so far away... So far away... // Riley took one last glance at the world around him. The town that had been his home for 4 1/2 years. So different from his little Iowa beginnings. Now he was onto even bigger things. Even more danger. But nothing seemed more dangerous than loving the Slayer. A girl who could kill you just as soon as kiss you. He walked towards the helicopter. He wouldn't look back again. He was leaving behind the only woman he had ever loved and all the heartbreak that went with her. \\What did I do to you? What did I do to you? What did I do to you? What did I do to you? // Buffy yelled as she broke through the trees. The helicopter was lifting off. She couldn't believe it. He was lifting off, up and out of her life, maybe forever. She screamed and raced towards the landing pad. It was to high. Why didn't he look down at her? "Do I deserve this shit? Hasn't my life been crapped on enough? All I do is to help others. Can't I find a little happiness?" She shouted up to the sky where the helicopter was just a small speck among the stars. Buffy crumbled down from tiredness. She curled up on the warm pavement and cried. She was alone again. Her mom was ok but Riley was gone. Someplace she couldn't follow. And she had brought it on herself. \\NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE! LET ALONE YOU WON'T FORGET MY NAME! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! JUST DON'T LOOSE WHAT YOU KNOW! WHEN YOU'RE SO FAR AWAY... // It took all he could to keep from looking. But he had to trust himself. She wasn't going to come. She didn't love him enough. He was just to immature and to emotional to realize it sooner. Graham gave him a sympathetic look. At least he could start over in South America. Erase it all and try to forget. But he didn't want to forget. At least not the good moments however few and far between. The world was far below as they buzzed across the night sky. The only thing between him and heaven was a big crescent moon and all the tears welling up in his eyes. \\What did I do to you? So far away... What did I do to you? So far away... What did I do to you? So far away... What did I do to you?//