When Buffy fled Sunnydale

[spikecakes]

This is something I've been pondering for a while, I just hope the thread hasn't already been made. If Willow's soul spell had actually failed, and Angel had never returned to Buffy for that final agonising minute, do you think Buffy would have been able to cope with the death easier? Considering she spent so much time knowing Angelus, one would assume it wouldn't have hit her as hard. So, would she have still fled Sunnydale if Angel had never returned and she'd literally killed just Angelus? Decide, BB folk, decide!

 

[PrincessBuffy16]

I would like to think so. I always thought she was ready to kill Angelus, not Angel. I think she would be sad and all, but I don't think she would run away.

 

[nightshade]

I think that she still might have left. Afterall she would have still lost Angel, with now no chance of getting him back

 

[Chosen Enemy]

I think she would. Angel or Angelus, she still had feelings for him, still loved him, even when he was evil. Killing him was killing him, she'd lose him either way. She'd still kill her love.

 

[Kean]

No, I don't believe she would have. I honestly think she would have went straight to Giles after the showdown in the Mansion.

Does that mean Buffy didn't love Angel? Nope. She still loved him with all heart. And she still would have felt supreme guilt for destroying "...the person she loved the most in a moment of blind passion." But she had been grieving that "death" all season, she had been mourning Angel's loss since Surprise. She was grief and part of that grief was preparing to kill Angelus. And while it undoubtedly would have had a profound affect on her, I don't believe it would have driven her away.

What actually happened was a whole new crime in Buffy's eyes. Needing a whole new cycle of grief, guilt and shame. To Buffy, this was her second time "killing" Angel. There is absolutely no way she would have viewed sending Angelus to Hell, and sending Angel to Hell as the same thing. And I don't believe it would have warranted an equal reaction from her.

 

[sisterofmercy]

I agree that she was prepared to kill Angelus but not Angel. I think she failed to think of them as two people for a long time which made it hard for her to kill him (i.e. Innocence), but by the time she actually had to do it in Becoming she'd managed to separate the two. I think it would have hurt her but I'm nt sure it would be enough to make her leave. Although saying that, she'd also been expelled from school and had her best friend nearly die due to her misjudgement, let alone being on the run from the police and arguing with her mum. I think on top of all of that she may have just left anyway- too much was taken from her.