Willow was the first one he'd find. The first that had to be destroyed before he could be sure he was safety. They'd all eventually die, Buffy, Giles, Xander, Faith, and he'd already dealt with Spike when he'd found him injured after the battle. His soul was finally gone, he didn't know how or why, but he was free of it at last and his first order of business was to remove the biggest threat to his newfound freedom.

He knew the slayers would immediately go on alert, sure he'd come for them first, after all, they were the ones with the power to kill him. Particularly Buffy, who'd assume that he was as obsessed with her as his souled half had been. But she was wrong. About a lot of things. Buffy was not the biggest threat, never had been. He could fight a slayer, or he could avoid her. She'd never send one of the new girls after him, too risky, so all he had to do was avoid her and Faith to survive. Physical strength is easy to get around.

The witch though, that was different. All those years ago when she was barely aware of her magic she was able to soul him from the hospital. Not a great distance, but a distance nonetheless. Now she was, without question, one of the most powerful witches in the world. She wouldn't even need to know his location to return his soul. She was definitely the bigger risk to his life.

Buffy was also wrong about Soul-boy's obsessions. Oh, he'd thought himself in love with the Slayer, star-crossed lovers and all of that, but his real obsession was Willow. Ever since she restored his soul he'd been watching her, she'd been on his mind constantly. The memories of made him sick. Angel had fallen for her and it had to stop. He couldn't live with the memories of his love for her. He'd had a brief flicker of hope that she'd finally learned how to harness and focus her power when she'd tried to destroy Sunnydale, but then just a few months later she'd restored his soul again and Angel had fallen even harder for her. She had to be destroyed for his safety; destroyed to keep him unsoiled and to erase the memories of his love.