This reads like a tapestry. So many threads picked up and woven together: the baby birds, the rosy-fingered dawn, the black and red; I could go on and on, but I can't remember them all. Incredibly rich and thought-provoking.

“I’m giving you this because I love you,” he said, and finally extended the binder to her.

Buffy reached out two days later to pull Angel out of the way of the dragon’s fiery breath

I love this juxtaposition, because in my head I can see a close-up on her hand, dissolving into the fight scene. It's like a film edit; very cinematic.

Not everything about this piece worked for me. I found it a bit too dense in places, and some of the scene-jumps were a little disorienting (perhaps deliberately so). But as always, you take chances with your writing, and they pay off more often than not. The Buffy/Angel scene, I thought, was the most effective in terms of character exploration.

And the last line... killer! Very imaginative work.