Conversations With Dead People
(The Bronze – Night)
(Musicians are preparing their instruments and sound equipment for their performance.)
(TITLE CARD: "Conversations With Dead People")
(TITLE CARD: November 12, 2002)
(TITLE CARD: 8:01 PM)
(The singer, Angie Hart, begins her song. While she sings, show flashes of what everyone else is doing.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy is patrolling.)
(The Bronze)
(Spike is at the bar, having a drink.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy is patrolling.)
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow is studying, trying not to fall asleep.)
(Summers Residence)
(Dawn comes home to an empty house. In the kitchen there is a note with money clipped to it. The note reads: Will and I are out until late. Here’s money for the store. NO PIZZA! Love you, Buffy.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy kneels beside a fresh grave. A hand pops out of the soil.)
Buffy: Here we go.
(Car – Night)
(Jonathan's driving with Andrew as passenger. The old El Camino car is heavily adorned in super-stereotypical Mexican style: older model car with fringe around the top of the windshield and lots of decorations.)
Andrew: (sighs) You keep circling around. Just… just drive straight in.
Jonathan: Will you shut up? We gotta keep it low pro.
Andrew: You're just scared.
Jonathan: Of course I'm scared. Last time we were here, 33.3bar percent of us were flayed alive.
Andrew: Calm down. No one's getting flayed alive. We got a plan. We're gonna fix all that.
Jonathan: Wish I'd have stayed in Mexico.
Andrew: Ah, I didn't like it there. Everybody spoke Mexicalan.
Jonathan: You could've learned it. You learned the entire Klingon dictionary in two and a half weeks.
Andrew: That had much clearer transitive and intransitive rules, OK? Besides, I can't keep having those nightmares.
Jonathan: Me neither. Desde abajo te debora.
Andrew: "It eats you starting with your bottom."
Jonathan: Gonna make it right.
Andrew: (getting misty-eyed) We're outlaws with hearts of gold.
(They drive past the "Welcome to Sunnydale" street sign.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy's fighting the fledgling vampire who rose earlier. He's rather a strong and capable fighter against her.)
(Summers Residence – Kitchen)
(Dawn's eating pizza in the kitchen.)
Dawn: (singing) Anchovies, anchovies, you're so delicious. I love you more than all the other fishes.
(Buffy’s Room)
(Dawn is holding a slice of pizza while going through Buffy's clothes and holding them up to her in front of the mirror. She accidentally brushes the pizza against a white blouse.)
Dawn: Oh. Ah, she'll think it's blood.
(Living Room)
(Dawn's playing with the Buffy's weapons. First, she's swinging the battle-axe.)
Dawn: Taste my blade, spawn of evil!
(She swings the axe, and the blade lands in some furniture. Then she gets out the crossbow and loads it. She's pointing it around like she's one of the Charlie's Angels or something. She accidentally pulls the trigger, causing the arrow to shoot out. It lands in the living room wall. When she tries to pull the arrow out, a large chunk of plaster comes with it. Her eyes widen, and she looks around for some way to cover it up. She moves the nearby tall houseplant in front of the hole.)
(Kitchen)
(Dawn's listening to Mexican music and dancing around the kitchen. She gets a jumbo marshmallow out of the cabinet and puts it into the microwave on a little plate. While heating up, the marshmallow starts to swell and expand; Dawn seems impressed.)
Dawn: (laughs) Cool.
(She jumps when she hears a sound from somewhere else in the house.)
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow's still studying at the table, leaning her head over, propping it up on one arm, slouching a bit. Then someone starts talking to her through one of the nearby stacks. It's Cassie.)
Cassie: So, (Willow turns to look) this is the UC library, huh? It's so big. Hey.
Willow: I know you. I mean, I saw your picture.
Cassie: (walks out from behind the stacks to Willow's table) Yeah, I know, it's kinda weird 'cause we never really met.
Willow: Or kinda weird because your're really dead.
Cassie: Yeah well... (laughs)
Willow: Did I fall asleep?
Cassie: No, no, I'm here. I mean, not-not here here... it's kinda complicated. Kind of ironic, too, you know. I wrote all that intense poetry about the end, and here I am again. Chatting you up.
Willow: Yeah, ironic.
Cassie: I knew this would completely freak you out. It's just? (sits at Willow's table) she asked that I come talk to you. It's important.
Willow: She?
Cassie: Don't worry. I'm not gona hurt you or anything?
Willow: Who asked you? What are you talking about?
Cassie: She says she still sings.
Willow: What?
Cassie: Remember that time on the bridge when you sang to each other? Well, she says even though you can't hear it, she still sings to you.
Willow: Tara?
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's talking on the cordless phone, sitting in front of the television, eating gooey marshmallow. An old black and white movie is playing on TV; it looks like it might be a classic horror flick.)
Dawn: (to phone) Oh, come on. She is so dead. Well, he's clearly a psychopath. Is so. What? No, that is not Tom Hanks. Well, what channel are you on? (knock) OK, there it is again. I keep hearing this, like, thumping. (mutes television) (knock, knock) No, I-I can't tell if it's?
(The front door flies open. Dawn goes to investigate, and a strong wind is blowing into the house. She struggles to shut the door.)
Dawn: (to phone) Kit, are you there? Is there a storm?
(Suddenly, the television is unmuted, playing loudly. She tries to mute it again, but the remote control button doesn't have any effect. She tries the power button on the television itself, but it doesn't work either. Finally, she tries to unplug it, but the old movie still plays with the cord out of the wall. Dawn's eyes grow wide with fear.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy's still fighting the fledgling vampire. He's dressed in a nice black suit, wearing a light blue shirt and a tie. They're having quite a row, throwing each other against headstones and such. Finally, the vampire pushes Buffy back against a headstone and grabs her throat, going for the kill, when he stops, and speaks to her.)
Vampire: Buffy? (laughs) Buffy Summers?
Buffy: Have we?
Holden/Vampire: Oh, uh. Webs? Holden Webster. We went to school together. European History. I let you crib off my Vaclav Havel essay that time. You…you really don't remember me?
Buffy: Sure! Sure.
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's scared. Mexican music is playing loudly. The television won't shut off and is playing the old horror movie loudly. Dawn smashes the TV with an axe and breaks it. She smashes the stereo as well. The music is still coming from the kitchen.)
(Kitchen)
(She sees the radio, the one she was dancing to earlier, sitting there on the countertop, playing Mexican music. She walks further into the room, hoisting the battleaxe, when the microwave oven suddenly comes on.)
Dawn: Oh, God. Oh, God...
(She smashes the microwave, causing a tiny explosion and shattering glass on the floor. She backs away from the explosion, but she's in bare feet and the shattered glass cuts her. The radio on the kitchen counter is still going. Suddenly, tuning sound comes over the radio, causing the music to fade and a voice comes over the radio.)
Joyce: (os) Dawn?
Dawn: Mom?
(Cemetery)
(In vampire visage, the fledgling vampire is talking casually to Buffy.)
Holden: OK, um, junior year, spring production of Pippin, uh, I did the lighting design.
Buffy: I didn't see it.
Holden: But you'd helped me move the lighting board, and I dropped it on your foot.
Buffy: Right, foot. Yes, of course. History class. It's all coming back. Sorry.
Holden: Well, you know, it's not like I was a big part of your life or anything.
Buffy: No, I just I didn't recognize you, you know, your face, all demon, and I think you've filled out a lot.
Holden: Oh, yeah, well I got into to Tae Kwon Do in a big way at Dartmouth, so...
Buffy: That's great.
Holden: Yeah.
Buffy: So what have you been up to?
Holden: Well, apparently dying. (they laugh) Uh, no, but other stuff. (they start walking) Uhh, you know, majoring in Psych. Really liking that. Uhh, took a year of to do an internship at the Sunnydale Mental Hospital.
Buffy: Wow. That's gotta be a... popular joint.
Holden: I keep telling them we ought to get a velvet rope and a bouncer. (they stop walking) Hey, you remember Jason Wheeler, you know, "Crazy J"?
Buffy: (leans on nearby headstone) Oh, yeah.
Holden: He always had that shtick of (waves hands around) "Yeah, I'm crazy, I'm crazy."
Buffy: How is he?
Holden: Crazy. He's been in the chronic ward since graduation. (laughs, then stops) Not really that funny, I guess.
Buffy: Ironic, sorta.
Holden: Yeah. (face changes from vampire to normal) Whoa. Did my face just change?
Buffy: Yeah. You look human now. You can do that go back and forth.
Holden: Oh, so I'm a vampire. (laughs) How weird is that?
Buffy: Sorry.
Holden: No, no. Feels great. Strong. Like I'm connected to a powerful all-consuming evil that's gonna suck the world into a firey oblivion. How 'bout you?
Buffy: Not so much connected. (stands and walks away, he follows)
Holden: No, no. I mean, with the stake and the cross you do this kind of thing a lot?
Buffy: (stops walking, turns to face him) I'm the slayer. It's sort of a thing.
Holden: So, what you like fight vampires professionally… Or?
Buffy: Oh, I don't get paid. It's more like a calling. Since even in school.
Holden: I heard a lot of rumors about you back then. You were all mysterious.
Buffy: I was?
Holden: Well, you were never around. A lot of kids thought you were dating some really old guy, or that you were just heavy religious. Scott Hope said you were gay.
Buffy: What? I dated that ringworm.
Holden: He says that about every girl he breaks up with. And then last year, big surprise, he comes out.
Buffy: (shakes her head) Men. Do I know how to pick 'em.
Holden: So, all that time, you were a slayer?
Buffy: The.
Holden: "The", like as in "the only one"?
Buffy: Pretty much.
Holden: Oh. So, when you said not connected, that was kind of a telling statement, wasn't it??
Buffy: (puts hands on hips) Ah, Psych 101 alert.
Holden: Well, I'm just saying.
Buffy: Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead.
Holden: Hey, it was your phrase.
Buffy: I'm connected. I'm connected to a lot of people, OK.
Holden: No. No, I hear ya.
Buffy: I really am.
(Pan down to show that Buffy's cell phone has fallen on the ground behind a nearby tombstone. It's ringing.)
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's on the phone, frantic. She's sitting on the coffee table with her back to the couch, bandaging her feet while she makes the phone call.)
Dawn: Buffy, come on, pick up. I don't know what to do!
(Dawn hangs up the phone and picks up the radio that was in the kitchen before. She shakes the radio. Joyce is lying on the couch behind her in the same position as she was when Buffy found her dead in episode 5x17 "The Body".)
Dawn: (crying) Do it again! I heard you.
(Dawn stops and turns slowly to look at the couch behind her, but it's empty. The lights go out for a second. When they come back on, Dawn can see that all the dining room chairs have been placed upside down on the dining room table in the next room. The weapons chest has been turned on end, spilling its contents onto the floor. She looks around, frightened, and sees a message written on the wall in blood: "Mother's Milk is RED Today", and there's a bloody handprint below it. The lights dim again for only a moment, and when they come back on, the message is gone and the weapons chest and the dining room furniture are back in their normal configurations again. Dawn shivers. There's a knocking sound: knock, knock, knock)
Dawn: Why are you doing this! (Knock.) Why are you? I don't understand. (knocking continues) Stop. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Aah! (Knocking stops.) Hello? (Knock.) (to herself) Once for yes... (out loud) Once for yes, twice for no. Mom? (looks around) (Knock.) Mom, it's you? (Knock.) Are you OK? (Knock. Knock.) You're not. Mom... mommy... are you alone? (Knock. Knock.)
(The house starts to shake, like an earthquake, but not. A strobe light flashes in Dawn's face. Dawn screams. Home decor is falling to the floor everywhere: lamps, pictures, vases, etc.)
Dawn: Why are you doing this?!
(Sunnydale High – Library)
(Jonathan, dressed entirely in black, is descending a rope from the ceiling, landing in the library. He unhooks himself and looks around.)
Andrew: (os) Aah!
(Andrew, also clad in black, has fallen from the ceiling, not quite so adept with the ropes as Jonathan. He lands flat on his face.)
Jonathan: Get up, you wuss.
Andrew: I have shin splints. (tries to get up) Ow.
(Hallway)
(Now Jonathan and Andrew are walking down the hallway, carrying large black packs on their backs. Andrew has a map of the school and both have a flashlight.)
Jonathan: Maybe we should turn on a light.
Andrew: No, they'll see it from outside.
Jonathan: Right. (They hear a noise coming from down the hall, like glass breaking. They turn to look.) Maybe we should go get Buffy.
Andrew: No way.
Jonathan: We should just tell her what we know about this evil Danthazar.
Andrew: (they start walking) Think, McFly. Why would she believe us without any proof? We go to her empty-handed, and we'll be coolin' our heels in the clink in a Bell's microsecond.
Jonathan: I ain't goin' back to the big house. That place changes a man.
Andrew: That's why we need proof. Think of it as trial by fire. A quest.
Jonathan: Una questa.
Andrew: We find it. We alert the slayer. We help her destroy it. We save Sunnydale. (they stop walking) Then we join her gang and possibly hang out at her house.
Jonathan: Right. OK. What do we do?
Andrew: I think we should find the Principal's office and work our way down from there.
Jonathan: OK, uh, um, uh, you go check down the hallway (points left), and I'll go over there. (points right)
Andrew: Check communications?
(Still standing beside each other, they both reach into the pockets of their cargo pants and pull out walkie-talkie radios. The radios beep when turned on.)
Jonathan: (to radio) Check. Check.
Andrew: (to radio) Check. Check.
Jonathan: Check.
Andrew: Check. Check.
Jonathan: Check. Check.
Andrew: Check. Check. Check.
Jonathan: Check.
(They nod to each other, then walk their separate ways.)
Jonathan: Echo 2 to Echo 1.
Andrew: This is Echo 1. Go ahead.
Jonathan: Do you think they'll really let us join their gang?
(Andrew shrugs. Jonathan walks away. Down the hall, Warren walks out from behind some lockers and walks up to Andrew.)
Warren: Nice job.
Andrew: There you are. I'm scared out of my frickin' gourd here.
Warren: (laughs) Take it easy. Take it easy.
Andrew: Do you have any idea how hard it's been to act this cool?
Warren: Calm down, you're doing great. All specs are within parameters.
Andrew: You keep leaving me. I hate it when you leave me. One time you died, and I ended up a Mexican.
Warren: We've been over this. Now, that death thing was all part of the master plan. Come on, "If you strike me down..."
Andrew: (doing an impression) "I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." (laughs) Of course. Do you think, maybe, Willow could kill me, too?
Warren: Hey, don't worry. If short round pulls off his end of the bargain, we'll both become gods.
Andrew: (turns to look down hall where Jonathan went) (doing an impression) "That boy is our last hope."
Warren: (walks forward to stand beside Andrew) "No, there is another."
Andrew: (looks at Warren) Wait, really? Who's our last hope?
Warren: No, I was just going with it. It was a thing. He's our last hope.
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow's sitting at the table talking to Cassie, who's sitting across from her.)
Willow: Tara, is it you?
Cassie: She's sorry she couldn't come herself.
Willow: Why didn't she? I don't understand... I mean, if you can manifest yourself…
Cassie: She just can't.
Willow: Why not? I don't understand.
Cassie: Because of what you did.
Willow: What?
Cassie: You killed people. You can't see her. That's just how it is. I'm sorry.
Willow: But she's talking to you? And-and she can hear me? (starts to cry, looks up) Tara? Tara, I miss you. I miss you so much. (to Cassie) Can she hear me? What's happening. Did she say anything? What? Did she go away?
Cassie: She's crying.
Willow: No. No, don't cry. Don't cry, sweetie. Talk to me.
Cassie: She misses you, too. She wishes she could touch you.
Willow: Me too. Oh, me, too. Oh, God, Tara, it hurts so much. Everyday, it's like this giant hole, and it's not getting better.
Cassie: It will. It can.
Willow: How? You're gone.
Cassie: But you're not. You're strong, like an Amazon, remember?
Willow: I do. I remember.
(The Bronze)
(Spike's nursing his whiskey at the bar, when a blonde woman in a faux-fur trimmed jean jacket puts down a pack of cigarettes on the bar in front of him. He raises his eyebrows, turns to look at her and nods to the stool beside him. She sits down next to him. )
(Cemetery)
(Buffy's lying down on her back on a stone sarcophagus. There's a carved stone open book at one end that she's using as a pillow. Holden is sitting on a nearby headstone, talking to her. She's playing with the cross pendant on the necklace she's wearing.)
Holden: So, you meet someone, you form a bond...
Buffy: But it never lasts.
Holden: Do you mean in all relationships, or just yours?
Buffy: My parents weren't exactly the paragon of stay-togetherey-ness. Maybe that's part of it. I think there're people out there who'd make it. I just... target the impossible ones... with deadly accuracy.
Holden: You think you do that on purpose? Maybe you're trying to protect yourself?
Buffy: Protecting myself? From heartbreak, misery, sexual violence, and possible death? Not so much.
Holden: From committing.
Buffy: (sits up) I commit. I'm committed. I'm a committee.
Holden: So it's them? You're reaching out, they're just not coming through?
Buffy: (shifts her body) It's different. I think you're confusing me because you're evil.
Holden: I just think you're in some pain here which I do kind of enjoy 'cause I'm evil now but you should just ease up on yourself. It's not exactly like you have the patent on bad relationships.
Buffy: Wouldn't it be cool if I did?
Holden: And what are you supposed to be settling down already? At 21? You know, my girlfriend at college, she's so sweet. We have this great thing, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go vampify her just so we can be together forever.
Buffy: Sire.
Holden: What?
Buffy: The word when you turn a human into a vampire it's you "sire" them.
Holden: Cool.
Buffy: It's a noun too.
Holden: (stands, leans on nearby headstone) Oh, I have so much to learn. Come on, isn't this insane? I mean, I was afraid to talk to you in high school, and now we're, like, mortal enemies. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we became nemeses?
Buffy: Is that how you say the word?
Holden: We're gonna have to fight to the death, aren't we?
Buffy: It's the time-honored custom.
Holden: Wow, reality just shows up sometimes, doesn't it? But, you know, I've got the bloodlust pumping, and I kinda get it. I'm looking for a fight. And, oh, it's nothing personal.
Buffy: (stands) Oh, no, I mean, you've been great.
Holden: And fun catching up. I haven't really kept in contact with many of my friends from high school. Guess I'll be looking them up pretty soon. (laughs)
Buffy: (looks down) Yeah.
Holden: Hey, I don't mean to be Count Buttinsky here, but you just don't seem as thrilled. Is it because we're gonna fight?
Buffy: 'S 'cause I'm gonna win.
Holden: (laughs) Hello. Two years of Tae Kwon Do and vampire strength. I think somebody's counting their chickens.
Buffy: You're not leaving this graveyard. (shrugs) Can't let ya.
Holden: Do the words "superiority complex" mean anything to you?
Buffy: You think I'm gonna let you go kill a bunch of people? You know I'm sworn to?
Holden: No, no. I get the battle against evil. That's not the issue?
Buffy: There is no issue. Don't issue me.
Holden: Just answer me this: whose fault was your parents divorce?
Buffy: (rolls eyes) OK, you know, this is beyond evil. This is insane troll logic. What do my parents have to do with??
Holden: (sits on sarcophagus) I'm just curious. Your opinion.
Buffy: (sighs, sits on sarcophagus next to him) They both have a lot of?
Holden: Off the top of your head.
Buffy: (hangs head) My dad.
Holden: Uh-huh.
Buffy: He cheated. Um, I think he cheated.
Holden: So, of all of these relationships of yours that you knew subconsciously were totally doomed. Whose fault is that?
Buffy: It's incredibly different.
Holden: I was just wondering, (stands) is it possible, even a little bit, that the reason you have trouble connecting to guys is because you think maybe they're not worth it? Maybe you think you're better than them.
Buffy: (glares) Say, there's that bloodlust I was looking for.
Holden: Struck a nerve.
Buffy: I'm gonna strike a nerve cluster in a minute, you don't get off this. I don't remember you being this annoying.
Holden: You don't remember me at all.
Buffy: Yes, I do.
Holden: Yeah, like, after 30 minutes of reminding. And I don't take it personally because clearly you were in your own little world in high school. All chosen. All destiny. Who could live with that for seven years and not feel superior?
Buffy: I'm not. My God, if anything, I… (hangs head)
Holden: What?
Buffy: I just (sighs) if you knew what I've done, what I've let myself become. My best friends don't even. You'd laugh, you heard some of the things I've done to them.
Holden: (sits on nearby headstone) Buffy, I'm here to kill you, not to judge you.
Buffy: The last guy I was with, it got really… I behaved like a monster, treated him like… but at the same time, I-I let him completely take me over. Do things to me that… (starts to cry, Holden stands) I'm sorry. (wipes eyes) Wow, I didn't mean to get all true-confessions there. I don't know what's wrong with me.
(Holden walks forward to inspect a figurine of Mary that adorns a nearby tombstone. He picks up Mary.)
Holden: There's nothing wrong with you. (He hits Buffy in the head with the Mary statue, sending Buffy across the sarcophagus in a flip. Holden jumps over the tomb and lands in front of Buffy, grabbing her jacket, and talking right in her face in his vampire visage.) Everyone's got issues. (growls and goes to her neck, fangs bared)
(Buffy pushes Holden off of her, and they begin to fight.)
Buffy: (pauses) You son of a bitch!
Holden: (stands) What?
Buffy: I think I'm gonna kill you just a little bit more than usual. (she punches, he blocks then kicks her)
Holden: Aw, come one. I mean, we had a moment. You opened up. It was really sweet. It make me want to bite you. I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds. I'm just new to this mortal enemy stuff. (she stands, he kicks her) Pretty fast learner, though, right?
(Buffy kicks him and jumps him, pushing him (and herself) through a stained glass window into a nearby crypt.)
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's alone at home. The power's out. She's standing in the middle of the living room, looking around. In the background, there's a sound something like a cross between roaring wind and a growling animal.)
Dawn: I hear you. I hear you breathing. Are you hurting my mother? Are you keeping her from coming back to me? (A strobe-like flash lights the room momentarily. A white-eyed Joyce is lying on the couch one second, and then gone the next.) Mom? I see you. I'm coming towards you, OK? (Another flash, and Joyce is lying on the couch screaming while a dark shadowy figure is choking her as she reaches out toward Dawn.) She's trying to talk to me. Get off her and let her talk to me! (to herself) The axe!
(Dawn gets down on the floor, crawling around looking for the battleaxe. Suddenly the shadowy figure has the axe and swings it at Dawn's head. She screams. It just misses her.)
Voice: Get out!
(Dawn runs toward the front door, which has swung open again. Wind is blowing hard into the house. She almost goes out, but stops in mid-stride.)
Dawn: No! (shuts door) She's my mother. I'm staying.
(Shot of Joyce on the couch. Her eyes flash open.)
(Sunnydale High – Basement)
(Andrew and Jonathan are walking around in the basement.)
Jonathan: Seeing the high school again, part of me wishes I could go back.
Andrew: Everything's shifting around. I feel like we're in Hellraiser. I hate Pinhead.
Jonathan: Let me see that. (takes map) Did we circle all the way around? Maybe we should start over?
(Andrew's looking around while Jonathan inspects the map. Andrew sees Warren standing by a door.)
Andrew: (points to the door) There it is.
Jonathan: Are you sure? (shines flashlight on door. Warren has vanished, and there's no one there)
Andrew: Yeah. (sees Warren still standing there)
(Room)
(They enter through the door into an empty dirt-floored room. Jonathan's shining a flashlight onto his map.)
Jonathan: You know, I think you may be right. If this lines up, what we're looking for should be right under there.
(Jonathan shines his flashlight on the dirt in the center of the room. Andrew takes a pickaxe and starts digging.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy proceeds to kick the crap out of Holden. Finally he falls to the ground. Buffy straddles his chest, pointing a stake at his heart.)
Buffy: See? You're dead. That enough of a moment for ya?
Holden: (changes from vamp visage to human face) OK. But are you killing me 'cause I'm evil or because you opened up?
Buffy: (sighs, stands) Uhh! (he tries to get up and she kicks him in the face. he laughs) What is wrong with you?
Holden: (stands) Nothing. I got no worries. I'm dead. The biggest thing on my mind is whether or not Tricia Waldman came to my funeral or not. Do you remember her? Ohh biteable.
Buffy: See, this is what I hate about you vampires. Sex and death and love and pain it's all the same damn thing to you.
Holden: (walks around) Well, you know it's kind of a guy thing. We talk about nailing a girl, there's all this?
Buffy: No, it is not the same. With vampires, it is completely… Believe me, I know.
Holden: (stops) Oh, my God!
Buffy: Oh, your God what?
Holden: Oh, well, you know, not my God, because I defy him and all of his works, but…Does he exist? Is there word on that, by the way?
Buffy: Nothing solid.
Holden: Oh. I keep getting off topic because my mind is racing here. (takes off jacket) All right. I'll make a deal with you. We fight. To the death. Great. That last fight was just exhilarating. And I actually had a move coming up to block that stake. (walks toward Buffy) But you have to answer one question, and if I'm right, I get to ask anything no secrets, no defensiveness, anything I want to know.
Buffy: What's your question?
Holden: Your last relationship, was it with a vampire?
(Street)
(Spike's walking down a neighborhood street beside the girl he met at the bar. They're smiling and talking and seem to be having fun.)
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow's still sitting at the library table across from Cassie.)
Willow: I don't know where to start. Um, after Warren shot you know all about that, what happened? It was horrible. I was horrible. I lost myself, the regular me.
Cassie: Well, you were grieving.
Willow: A lot of people grieve. They don't make with the flaying. I hurt so many people.
Cassie: It was the power.
Willow: I am the power. It's in me. Did I mention the random destruction of property? The Magic Box is not so much a box now?
Cassie: The power is bigger than you are.
Willow: I know, but?
Cassie: Things are more clear where Tara is, where we are. We can see your path, and you have to stop. You can't use magic again, not ever.
Willow: Black magic, of course. But Giles says it isn't as simple as-as quitting it all cold-turkey?
Cassie: It's too dangerous. You can't take the chance that you'll lose control.
Willow: I-I don't want to. I-I can't. I never want to cause that kind of pain.
Cassie: Of course you don't.
Willow: So, I won't. I'm gonna be OK.
Cassie: She says...
Willow: What?
Cassie: You're not gonna be OK. You're gonna kill everybody.
(Willow stares at her.)
(Sunnydale High – Basement)
(Jonathan and Andrew are digging up the dirt in the room.)
Jonathan: We almost got this thing uncovered.
Andrew: Yep.
Jonathan: I hope Buffy'll know how to destroy it. (stops digging) 36-19-27! That's it! That was my locker combination. (digs) God, it's been bugging me all night.
Andrew: Dude, we spent the last few years trying to forget about high school. Why are you trying so hard to remember it?
Jonathan: I don't know. I guess I miss it. Don't you?
Andrew: Yeah, I really miss it.
Jonathan: (stops digging) No, I'm serious. I really miss it. Time goes by, and everything drops away. (Andrew stops digging, looks at Jonathan) All the cruelty, all the pain, all that humiliation. It all washes away. (Andrew looks over Jonathan's shoulder and sees Warren standing there, staring at him.) I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them, you know. I want to find out how they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives.
Andrew: You know what? They don't wanna talk to you…all those people you just mentioned. Not one of them is sitting around going, "I wonder what Jonathan's up to right now." Not one of them cares about you.
Jonathan: Well, I still care about them. That's why I'm here.
(Jonathan goes back to digging, and Andrew follows suit. Pan out to show that they are uncovering a 6-foot wide circular object made of metal molded into the shape of an inverted pentagram with a horned goat head symbol on it.)
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's sitting Indian-style on the living room floor, surrounded by white candles and thick books. She's got one of the books open to a specific page. The strange breathing sound is still present.)
Dawn: I know you're there. I will cast you out. My mother needs to talk to me. (She’s holding a bowl and sprinkles dust from the bowl on the ground in front of her. A force pushes her backwards across the room. She stops when her back hits the wall, but she's still got the bowl in her lap.) I cast you from this place. (sprinkles dust) It is your poison and your bane. (sprinkles dust)(Something scratches Dawn's face, leaving a bloody gash, and she screams.) (sprinkles dust) It is the skin that is cut from your flesh!
(A strong wind blows out all the candles. The living room window explodes inward, shattering pieces of glass all over her and the room.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy's sitting on the steps inside the crypt, talking to Holden, who's sitting beside her.)
Buffy: And the joke is... he loved me. I mean, in his own sick, soulless way, he really did care for me. But I-I didn't want to be loved.
Holden: Didn't you?
Buffy: I have all this power. I didn't ask for it. I don't deserve it. It's like... I wanted to be punished. I wanted to hurt like I thought I deserved. I sorta think you know, this is, um, complicated. If you'd rather just fight...
Holden: (leans back) Tell me.
Buffy: I feel like I'm worse than anyone. Honestly, I'm beneath them. My friends, my boyfriends. I feel like I'm not worthy of their love. 'Cause even though they love me, it doesn't mean anything 'cause their opinions don't matter. They don't know. They haven't been through what I've been through. They're not the slayer. I am. Sometimes I feel (sighs) this is awful. I feel like I'm better than them. Superior.
Holden: Until you can't win. And I thought I was diabolical or, at least I plan to be. You do have a superiority complex. And you've got an inferiority complex about it. (laughs) Kudos.
Buffy: It doesn't make any sense.
Holden: (sits forward) Oh, it makes every kind of sense. And it all adds up to you feeling alone. But, Buffy, everybody feels alone. Everybody is, until you die. Speaking of...(stands) you ready for our little death match?
Buffy: I suppose. (stands) Thanks, for listening.
Holden: Oh, you know, there's some things you can only tell a stranger.
Buffy: You're not a stranger. That stuff with Spike is pretty…
Holden: Hold it.
Buffy: What?
Holden: Did you say Spike?
(Apartment Building)
(Spike's walking the young woman to the apartment building. She starts walking up the staircase and gestures that he follow. Spike stands still, though, keeping his hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels. She comes back down the stairs and stands close to him.)
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(The lights are still out. The window is busted in. Papers are blowing around. The room looks like a disaster area. Dawn stands up and continues with the banishing spell. )
Dawn: I cast you out with every prayer from every god that walked the Earth and crawled beneath. (thrown across the room, landing on her butt, she continues. her mouth is bloody) I cast you out with the strength of those who love me. (stands) I cast your out with the strength I have inside me! I cast you out into the void. (throws bowl forward) That's right! Die, you bastard!
(The noise and wind stop. Blood spatters all the walls, but then fades and disappears altogether. The house is a complete wreck, but still now. Dawn whimpers and collapses. A golden light fills the room. Dawn looks up and sees a vision of Joyce standing there in front of her, beautiful and glowing, wearing a long white gown. Dawn manages to push herself up on her arms and sit up.)
Dawn: Mom?
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow's still talking to Cassie. Willow seems panicked, while Cassie is calm.)
Willow: I'm gonna what?
Cassie: That's why I came. We needed to warn you.
Willow: You saw my path? W-what do you know? What did you see?
Cassie: You don't want to know what we saw.
Willow: Oh, God!
Cassie: But if you stop completely. No more magic.
Willow: Right. Right. Stop. W-what about Giles? He made it seem like it was just as dangerous for me to quit completely, like I'll go off the deep end again?
Cassie: You can't. If you do so much as another spell?
Willow: I tried to stop. I-I tried. What if I can't do this?
Cassie: Don't think that way.
Willow: Well, how can I not? You're telling me I'm gonna murder all my friends. I'm not strong. I'm not an Amazon. I'm just me.
Cassie: Well, there is one thing you could do to stop it.
Willow: (eyes wide) What? Anything.
Cassie: And you could see her. You wouldn't have to talk through me.
Willow: (softly) Tara?
Cassie: That's what you want, isn't it?
Willow: Of course.
Cassie: So go. Be with her. Everybody will be safe, and you'll be together again. It's not that bad. Really. It's just like going to sleep.
(Willow suspects that something's wrong. She stands cautiously.)
Willow: Who are you?
(Cemetery)
(Buffy and Holden are still talking at the crypt.)
Buffy: What do you mean? How do you know Spike?
Holden: What do you mean, how? He was the guy that, um, oh, what's the word?
Buffy: Sired.
Holden: Yeah, he was the guy that sired me.
(Apartment Building)
(Holding the young woman in an embrace, Spike rears back in vampire face and sinks his fangs into her neck. He drinks deeply, but she doesn't struggle much and barely makes a sound.)
(Summers Residence)
(Joyce is standing there, all glowy and robed in white, talking to Dawn, who's still sitting on the floor.)
Joyce: Things are coming, Dawn. Listen, things are on their way. I love you, and I love Buffy, but she won't be there for you.
Dawn: What? Why are you??
Joyce: When it's bad, Buffy won't choose you. She'll be against you.
(The vision of Joyce starts to fade.)
Dawn: No! No, don't go! Please, don't go!
(Joyce disappears entirely. Dawn, still sitting in the middle of the living room floor, sobs.)
(Sunnydale High – Basement)
(Jonathan is packing up his bag, when Andrew comes to him and puts his right hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan looks up at Andrew, stands, and sees Warren standing behind Andrew. Jonathan's eyes widen as Andrew takes his left hand and stabs him in the belly with a dagger. Jonathan looks at Andrew and Warren, hurt.)
(UC Sunnydale – Library)
(Willow's standing, and Cassie's still sitting at the library table. Cassie seems smug and flippant now.)
Cassie: Suicide thing was too far, huh? Hmm. You seemed so ripe.
Willow: Tell me who you are.
Cassie: (leans forward) I stand by my opinion. The world would be a better place if you took a razorblade to your wrist?
Willow: Stop.
Cassie: I can see it now. (stands) Candlelight, the Indigo Girls playing, picture of your dead girlfriend on your bloody lap.
Willow: Stop it!
Cassie: (mocking) Oh, baby, you left such a big hole. It hurt so bad. (serious, leans in) You don't know hurt. This last year's gonna seem like cake after what I put you and your friends through, and I am not a fan of easy death. Fact is, the whole good-versus-evil, balancing the scales thing. I'm over it. I'm done with the mortal coil. But believe me, I'm going for a big finish.
Willow: From beneath you, it devours.
Cassie: (leans back) Oh, not it. Me.
(Cassie sports a wicked grin, and then her skin rolls back, and her jaws flip back and she's turning inside out until she's a floating ball of flesh, then poof! she disappears altogether. Willow's left just standing there in front of the library table.)
(Summers Residence – Living Room)
(Dawn's sitting still on the floor of the living room, staring blankly. The song that the band was singing at the Bronze in the first scene starts playing over the remaining scenes. )
(Sunnydale High – Basement)
(Jonathan collapses onto the metal object that they unearthed. He bleeds profusely, with his blood filling the grooves in the object, as Andrew and Warren stand there and watch. The metal object starts glowing.)
(Apartment Building)
(Spike roughly drops the young woman he was biting. He turns toward the camera in vampire face, his fangs and mouth dripping with fresh blood. He wipes his lips with his hand.)
(Cemetery)
(Buffy stands with her stake in hand as Holden turns to dust in front of her. She puts down her staking arm with a blank look on her face.)