Lessons
(Istanbul - Night)
(Turkish music plays. Camera shows the city skyline and closes in on the top of a building, and then to the street. A dark-haired girl is running through the arched hallway, looking over her shoulder and panting from the exertion of running so fast. She slips down an embankment. She's being chased. A man on the street sees her through his front door, and closes it rather than help her. Two people in hooded cloaks are chasing her. After trying various alleys looking for an escape route, she finds herself trapped in a dead-end. She sees a drain pipe next to her and decides to use it to scale the building. The people chasing her grab her foot, but she manages to escape their grip and easily climbs up to the roof. There, another hooded figure is waiting and pushes her off the building. She screams, but she lands on the ground alive, on her back. Two hooded figures hold her down, and she fights back with all her might. A third figure raises an arched, shiny, silver dagger and thrusts down at her.)
(Sunnydale Cemetery – Night)
(Camera is at ground level, showing a new vampire rising from his grave. He's middle-aged, wearing a suit. Sounds of his struggle to escape his grave persist until he interrupts the girls talking.)
Buffy: It's about power. Who's got it. Who knows how to use it. So...(Tosses a stake to Dawn.) Who's got the power, Dawn?
Dawn: (sighs) Well, I've got the stake.
Buffy: The stake is not the power.
Dawn: But he's new. He doesn't know his strength. H-he might not know all those fancy martial arts skills they inevitably seem to pick up.
Buffy: Who's got the power?
Dawn: He does.
Buffy: Never forget it. Doesn't matter how well prepped you are or how well armed you are. You're a little girl.
Dawn: Woman.
Buffy: Little woman.
Dawn: I'm taller than you.
Buffy: He's a vampire, OK? Demon. Preternaturally strong. Skilled with powers no human could possibly ever—
Vampire: Excuse me. I think I'm stuck.
Buffy: You're stuck?
Vampire: My foot's caught on a root or something, and... I don't even know how I got down there. If you girls could just give me a hand...
Dawn: Hm. So, he's got the power?
Buffy: Zip it.
Vampire: I really appreciate it. It's just it's so dark, and I don't even know what I'm doing here.(Buffy picks him up by his suit collar and puts him down standing on his feet.) Whoa. Ooh. Thanks. That was a help. Unfortunately it was the last…(Buffy grabs him by the throat. His voice turns scratchy.) …thing you'll ever do.
Buffy: Listen up. I'm the slayer. You don't want to get into it with me. You want blood? You can have hers. (Vampire turns to go after Dawn.) Power. He's got it. He's going to use it. You don't have it, so…(Vampire is charging Dawn. She bends and flips him over her back.) …use that. Perfect.
(Dawn stakes him, and thinks she defeated him. But she missed the heart. She gets a panicked look on her face. He pushes Dawn down, gets up and away from her. She tries again to stake him, but he overpowers her and starts to bite her neck.)
Dawn: Buffy!
(Buffy grabs the vampire's coat from behind, and he drops Dawn. Buffy fights with swings, kicks, punches, etc. Finally, she grabs a nearby sword, and cuts off his head.)
Buffy: It's real. It's the only lesson, Dawn. It's always real. Let me see.
(She inspects Dawn's neck. There are two puncture wounds where the vampire bit her.)
Dawn: It's nothing, it's just a scrape. Plus, I had a plan the whole time.
Buffy: Really?
Dawn: Yeah, I planned to get killed, come back as a vampire, and bite you.
Buffy: You wanted to be trained.
Dawn: Well, just the next time when you're gonna disa…
Buffy: You did pretty well.
Dawn: I did?
Buffy: Yeah.
Dawn: 'Cause, you know, with the whole rolling thing, I was actually using his strength, and it was very tai chi. Plus I nearly got the heart.
Buffy: My first time out, I missed the heart too.
Dawn: No way.
Buffy: Just the once.
(Buffy walks back to pack up her tools and weapons. They begin walking home.)
Dawn: Well, the next vampire I meet—
Buffy: The next vampire you meet, you run away. I just wish that was all we had to worry about. Vampires, demons... they're nothing compared to what's coming.
Dawn: I know. I just can't believe it's back.
Buffy: Believe me, I thought I was long past it. I guess you never are. Just a few more days 'til it starts. Then we'll never know what's coming next.
(New Sunnydale High School – Day)
(Zoomed in on a large pair of scissors. A man is using them to cut a huge red ribbon. Pan out to a press conference and grand opening ceremony with reporters and city officials standing around.)
Principal Wood: It is my great pleasure and privilege to announce the official opening—on the very ground that it first stood upon—of the brand new state of the art Sunnydale High!
(Westbury, England – Day)
(Giles is riding a horse through the English countryside. Then we see him walking through a field to a tree that Willow is sitting under. She is looking at the ground making an exotic flower grow and bloom.)
Giles: That doesn't belong there.
Willow: No, it doesn't.
Giles: That's the flora kua alaya. A native of Paraguay, if my botany serves.
Willow: Is there anything you don't know everything about?
Giles: Synchronized swimming. Complete mystery to me. (Moves closer.) Yep. Paraguay. Where does it come from?
Willow: Paraguay.
Giles: Who brought it through the Earth?
Willow: It's all connected. The root systems, the molecules...the energy. Everything's connected.
Giles: You sound like Miss Hartness.
Willow: She's taught me a lot.
Giles: Then why aren't you in your lesson?
Willow: Sorry.
Giles: It's alright. She was just—
Willow: —afraid. Yeah, they all are. The coven is—they're the most amazing women I've ever met. But there's this look that they get. Like I'm gonna turn them all into bangers and mash, or something. Which I'm not even really sure what that is.
Giles: They're cautious. I trust you understand that.
Willow: I don't have that much power, I don't think.
Giles: Everything's connected. You're connected to a great power, whether you feel it or not.
Willow: Well you should just take it from me.
(She gets up and storms off, angry at herself. They walk toward a building.)
Giles: You know we can't. This isn't a hobby or an addiction. It's inside you now, this magic. You're responsible for it.
Willow: Will they always be afraid of me?
Giles: Maybe. Can you handle it?
Willow: I deserve a lot worse. I killed people, Giles.
(They stop and look at each other.)
Giles: I've not forgotten.
Willow: When you brought me here, I thought it was to kill me or to lock me in some mystical dungeon for all eternity or—with the torture. Instead, you go all Dumbledore on me. I'm learning about magic. All about energy and Gaia and root systems.
Giles: Do you want to be punished?
Willow: I wanna be Willow.
Giles: You are. In the end, we all are who we are, no matter how much we may appear to have changed.
(Sunnydale – Summers Residence – Day)
(Xander parks his car and walks to Buffy's front door, wearing a suit, carrying a large tube of rolled up papers. Inside, Buffy's getting ready to send Dawn off to her first day of school. She is talking to Dawn, who is still upstairs getting ready.)
Buffy: Dawn! Xander's here.
Dawn: (os) Just a minute.
Buffy: You're going to be late.
Dawn: (os) I'm comfortable with that.
(Buffy opens the front door to let Xander in.)
Xander: G'morning!
Buffy: (to Dawn) Well, you gotta eat something. I made cereal.
Dawn: (os) OK.
Buffy: (to Xander) You're unconscionably spiffy.
(Buffy walks into the kitchen. Xander follows.)
Xander: Client meeting. How exactly do you make cereal?
Buffy: Ah, you put the box near the milk. I saw it on the food channel. Want something?
Xander: I ate. I'm good. How are you?
Buffy: My sister's about to go to the same high school that tried to kill me for three years. I can't change districts, I can't afford private school, and I can't begin to prepare for what could possibly come out of there. So, peachy with a side of keen, that would be me.
Xander: Well here's a little something for what ails ya.
(Xander gestures with the tube of papers he brought in.)
Buffy: Mmm. You got the rest.
(Xander goes into the dining room. Buffy follows. He lays out the plans for the high school.)
Xander: Take a look.
Dawn: Hey. Check out double-O Xander.
Buffy: Go. Talk with your mouth full.
Xander: I've got two crews working on this diabolical yet lucrative new campus. One here finishing the Science building. And one here, reinforcing the Gym. There are no pentagrams, no secret passageways. Everything's up to code and safe as houses.
Buffy: Nothing creepy? Strange? From beyond?
Dawn: (with her mouth full) Maybe you're just paranoid.
Xander: Well, there is one interesting detail. I managed to scare up the plan from the old high school. You remember the very center of Sunnydale's own Hellmouth?
(Xander puts up new and old plans to the window so they can see through them.)
Buffy: Under the library.
Xander: Right. So I lined up the plans, new and old. And right exactly where the library was, we now have...
Buffy: Principal's office.
Dawn: So the principal's evil?
Buffy: Or in a boatload of danger.
Xander: Well the last two principals were eaten. Who would even apply for that job?
Buffy: Guess we'll see. Ooh, we have to leave though. You have everything? Books, lunch, stakes?
Dawn: Checked thrice.
Xander: (whispering to Buffy) Did you give her the...
Buffy: No, I was saving it.
Dawn: What is it?
Buffy: Back to school gift.
Dawn: It's a weapon, isn't it?
Buffy: Yes, it is.
(Dawn begins to open the present, but the camera cuts to the next scene before showing what's inside.)
(Sunnydale High)
(Xander pulls the car up to drop Buffy and Dawn off in front of the school.)
Buffy: (to Xander) I'm gonna take her to class, have a look around.
Xander: OK. I'm gonna be on-site here all day, so if you have any needs...
(Buffy and Dawn get out of the car, and Xander drives off. They walk toward the school's front archway.)
Buffy: Now, remember, if you see anything strange... or, you know...dead.
Dawn: I got it.
Buffy: And stay away from hyena people, or any lizard-type athletes, you know, or if you see anyone that's invisible.
Dawn: Hey, Buffy, I think it's pretty safe to say I'm not going to see anybody that's invisible.
Buffy: You know, you could still drop out. Only nerds finish high school.
Dawn: You know, I don't really think it's fair for you to try and scare me on my first day of high school. 'Cause it is so redundant.
Buffy: The place is evil.
(As they enter the archway, someone greets them.)
Principal Wood: Tough to let 'em go, huh?
Buffy: Hi.
Principal Wood: I'm Robin Wood. New principal.
Buffy: Oh, uh, Buffy Summers. This is Dawn.
Principal Wood: Nice to meet you.
Dawn: Hi.
Buffy: So you're the new principal. I expected you to be more... aged.
Principal Wood: Huh. You seem a bit young to have such a gown-up daughter.
Buffy: Oh. Uh, uh, no. Sister.
Principal Wood: Oh, right, um, of course.
Buffy: You didn't really think she's my... it's my hair. I have mom hair.
Dawn: No...
Principal Wood: I actually have heard of you, Miss Summers. Graduated from the old high school, am I right?
Buffy: Uh, yeah. How did you—?
Principal Wood: Well, I better get back to work. Gotta start deadening young minds. It's really nice to meet you. You have fun.
(The principal leaves, and Buffy eyes him carefully as he walks away.)
Buffy: That was suspicious.
Dawn: You betcha. Bye.
(Dawn walks away from Buffy through the school's courtyard to go to class.)
Buffy: Oh, Dawn—
Dawn: I know! You never know what's coming. The stake is not the power. To Serve Man is a cookbook. I love you. Go away.
(Buffy crosses her arms, gets an idea, and walks toward the school.)
(Hallway)
(Buffy is walking the halls of the high school while class is in session, checking it out. Suddenly, a basketball is thrown at a locker by a kid who's not in class. She goes to check it out, and sees a kid walk away down another hall out of sight. While following him, Buffy passes a door with a sign that says "Basement. No student access." She continues past it, checking out the halls.)
(Classroom)
(Students are talking to each other before class, but not to Dawn. The teacher gets their attention.)
Teacher: OK. I'm Mr. Lonegrin. Why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves, hmm? Let's start with...
(Restroom)
(Buffy walks into the girls' restroom and looks at herself in the mirror, fondling her hair, pouting.)
Buffy: It's not "mom hair."
(She goes to wash her hands and notices a small bundle of feathers, twigs, crystals, and such bound together with string. She picks it up, and when she looks in the mirror, she sees a girl who wasn't there before. The girl looks dead.)
Dead Girl: You can't protect her. You couldn't protect me.
(Buffy turns around, and there's no one there. Then something else comes after her and she backs against the wall.)
Dead Janitor: Get out. Get out. Get out!
(Buffy looks up again, and he's gone.)
(Classroom)
(Dawn's classroom again. It's her turn to describe herself to the others.)
Dawn: I love to dance. I like music. I'm very into Britney Spears' early work, before she sold out. So mostly her, um, finger painting and macaroni art. Very underrated. Favorite activities include not ever having to do this again, and uh...
(Buffy bursts into the classroom, frantic.)
Buffy: Dawn!
Dawn: What?
Buffy: We have to go. It's not safe.
Dawn: But...
Buffy: We, um. I mean I saw...
Teacher: Can I help you?
Buffy: No, I uh. Dawn, I just thought you were, um, in danger... of smoking. I'll be around.
(Buffy leaves the classroom.)
Dawn: I also have a sister.
(Coffee Shop)
(A male/female duet sings for the coffee shop patrons.)
Duet: (singing) You've done for me everything I have ever dreamed. You are a miracle in my eyes? How do I ever say to you...
Anya: God, they're depressing.
Halfrek: Oh, who are they kidding with this happy, shiny crap?
Duet: (singing) Everyone I have ever...
Anya: Six weeks tops and she's calling on me for vengeance.
Halfrek: (mocking) Oo-ooh, he better run for cover. (laughs)
Anya: What's that supposed to mean?
Halfrek: Oh, sweetie. You know exactly what it means.
Anya: Excuse me?
Halfrek: It's the talk of the order. They're calling you "Miss Softserve." Tell me you don't know this.
Anya: But...who?
Halfrek: Listen, Anya. I know I've always been a little competitive with you. I mean, there was that thing in the Crimean War. We laugh about it now. But the fact is, I've actually always looked up to you. You were the single-most hard-core vengeance demon on the roster, and everybody knew it. Do I have to mention Mrs. Cholgash?
Anya: Hmm. Ha. Good times.
Halfrek: And then you lost your powers. It happens, and you fell for this Xander guy.
Anya: It was a glitch. A summer thing. I am so back in the vengeance fold.
Halfrek: No deaths. No eviscerations. You're not goading women into anything inventive, and you're not delivering when it is.
Anya: I don't even know—
Halfrek: Waitress downtown wished her husband was a frog? You made him French.
Anya: Hmph, he's smelly and with a little mustache. She—
Halfrek: Listen, Anya, if it was just me—
Anya: What do you mean if it was just you?
Halfrek: D'Hoffrin. The lower beings. They're all feeling the heat. Something's rising. Something older than the old ones, and everybody's tail is twitching. This is a bad time to be a good guy.
Anya: Well, what is this—an intervention? Shouldn't all my demon friends be here?
Halfrek: Sweetie... they are.
(Sunnydale High School)
(At the construction site, Buffy talks to Xander.)
Xander: So, how's it looking? Does the place pass inspection?
Buffy: Oh, it's great... if you're a zombie ghost thing!
Xander: So school's back in session, huh?
Buffy: Seems like old times.
(A construction worker walks up to where they were talking, so Xander and Buffy walk to somewhere more private to have their conversation.)
Xander: So, zombies or ghosts?
Buffy: I'm not sure. They were in the mirror, but they disappeared. Um, but they touched me, I think. Well, let's just start with dead and pissed.
Xander: They were after you personally?
Buffy: They talked about protecting people. Told me to leave.
Xander: No damage, though.
Buffy: I think I may have destroyed Dawn's social life in all of about 30 seconds, but apart from that, no.
Xander: Ah, being popular isn't so great. Or so I've read in books.
Buffy: This isn't a coincidence, you know, the school being rebuilt. It means something.
Xander: As in what?
(Classroom)
(Dawn is sitting at her desk. The nerd sitting beside her asks her a question.)
Nerd: Could I borrow a pencil?
(Dawn nods. She unzips the pencil pouch in her notebook, and takes out a yellow pencil, and hands it to hand him. When she looks up, she sees that he has transformed into a freaky dead guy.)
Dead Nerd: Thanks a lot.
(Dead nerd takes the pencil and tries to stab Dawn's eye with it. She screams and falls to the floor.)
Teacher: Are you all right?
(Dawn looks around, and the Dead Nerd had disappeared. Her classmates are all staring at her.)
Dawn: I'm sorry. There was... a... a bee. It flew in my eye. I'm very allergic. (gets up)
Teacher: I think it's gone.
Dawn: Can I go to the bathroom?
Teacher: Of course.
(Dawn leaves the room. The other students look at each other trying to figure out what Dawn's problem was.)
Student: Guess it runs in the family.
(Restroom)
(Dawn goes into the restroom to gather her thoughts and recover from her scare. She hides in the first stall and tries to catch her breath. She hears scared crying from another stall. She gets up, leaves the stall, and checks for under the other stall doors, looking for feet. No feet.)
(Hallway)
(Buffy is walking in the hall in a hurry and isn't looking where she's going. She bumps into the principal.)
Principal Wood: Whoa.
Buffy: Ooh, sorry.
Principal Wood: Miss Summers. I didn't know you were still about.
Buffy: Uh, yeah, I was just looking for…
Principal Wood: I thought in general it was customary for a person who's graduated to, um, you know, go somewhere else. (laughs)
Buffy: Well, it's a new campus. I'm just getting to know it. You know, make sure it's safe for my sister.
(Restroom)
(Dawn decides to check in the stalls one by one. Cautiously, she pushes in the first door. Empty. Second stall is empty too. When she pushes in the door to the third stall, there's a girl there, sitting fetal style with her feet on top of the toilet seat.)
Dawn: Hey. What's wrong?
Kit: There's someone in here.
(Dawn looks around.)
Dawn: It's only me.
(Kit shakes her head.)
Kit: No, it's not.
(Hallway)
(Buffy is still talking to the principal.)
Principal Wood: You know, I, um, have to be honest. I actually know a little bit more about you than I let on before.
Buffy: Isn't that interesting.
Principal Wood: Oh, it really is.
(Restroom)
(Dawn and Kit are still talking.)
Dawn: Let's get you out of here, OK? Maybe we can get some air. I'm Dawn.
Kit: Kit.
Dawn: Saw something pretty creepy, huh?
Kit: You wouldn't believe me.
Dawn: I kinda sorta think I will. Was there a pencil involved in any—
(They look in the mirror and notice there are three dead people there – Dead Girl, Dead Nerd, and Dead Janitor. The lights start exploding, sparks are shooting out from them, and the floor is breaking under their feet. They scream. Hands are reaching for them, pulling them down into the floor.)
(Westbury, England)
(In front of the same building where they were talking before, Willow has fallen onto the ground and appears to be in pain. Giles is with her, and tries to hold her.)
Willow: Oh, God.
Giles: Just breathe.
Willow: I can't. God!
Giles: Just breathe.
Willow: What happened?
Giles: What do you remember?
(Willow props herself up with her hands on the ground.)
Willow: We were talking and I felt... (She recoils and brings her hands away from the ground suddenly frightened.) I felt the Earth. It's all connected. It is, but it's not all good and pure and rootsy. There's deep, deep black. There's... I saw, I saw the Earth, Giles. I saw its teeth.
Giles: The hell mouth.
Willow: It's gonna open. It's gonna swallow us all.
(Sunnydale High School – Basement)
(The girls have fallen through the bathroom floor into the basement. There is rubble all around them. They are on the floor, but appear to be undamaged. Kit comes to first and goes to Dawn.)
Kit: Hey. Hey, wake up. Please wake up.
Dawn: Oh, oh, God, uh... Are you OK?
Kit: We have to leave.
Dawn: You're not wrong. C'mon. There's got to be a staircase.
(Hallway)
(Buffy is still talking to the principal.)
Principal Wood: The school board recommended I spend a little time reading your record. It's, um, quite a page-turner. Kind of a checkered past...
Buffy: Huh. More like a plaid. Kind of a clan tartan of badness, really. You know, but there were factors.
(Basement)
(The girls are walking around the basement, looking for an exit.)
Dawn: What did you see when I found you in the stall?
Kit: A girl. She said she died here, and that everybody dies here, and that we would too.
Dawn: Here I was worried about not fitting in.
(The girls run into someone unexpectedly in the basement and scream. It's the boy who was playing with the basketball in the hallway earlier.)
Carlos: Who are you?
Kit: Who are you?
Dawn: Are you dead?
Carlos: Stop saying that!
Dawn: Whoa. We're not dead. We saw creepy dead people, and we're just trying to get out.
Carlos: I just came down here for a smoke, you know, and I saw... it was a janitor. He was yelling at me. I thought he was just pissed, but... I saw him in the light.
Dawn: Wait, you came downstairs? Where?
Carlos: Man, I got no clue. I ran away like a girl. I don't know this place at all.
Dawn: OK, so we can run around in circles, or...
(Dawn walks down the corridor, and the others follow. Then a voice comes from behind.)
Dead Janitor: Do you really think you can run away?
Kit: It's not real.
Dawn: Lesson one: it's always real.
(Dead people surround them now.)
Dead Nerd: I tried to run too.
Dead Girl: I tried to scream. Doesn't matter how much you scream, nobody ever hears you.
Dawn: Hear me. Right. Ooh. I got a present.
Kit: What is it?
Dawn: A weapon.
(Dawn dials the new cell phone, the gift that Buffy gave her earlier today.)
(Hallway)
(Buffy is still talking to the principal.)
Principal Wood: Well, it's clear your sister looks up to you, which I think is great.
Buffy: No, she's much, much worse than me. Troublemaker. Expulsion is really the only way to go. You know, or you can suspend her for... three years.
Principal Wood: Well, how 'bout we give her a chance first. Just as long as she keeps her grades up, and—
(Buffy's cell phone rings.)
Buffy: Boy, that's loud.
Principal Wood: That's a part of the reason we don't allow cell phones in…
Buffy: Excuse me. Yeah. (to Principal) Oh, sorry. My dog. Uh, dog walker. (Quietly, into phone) Three dead?
Principal Wood: Oh, my God!
Buffy: Uh, no, I'll be right there.
Principal Wood: Your dogs are dead?
(Basement)
(Dawn is on the phone with Buffy.)
Dawn: And, Buffy? Isn't this reception amazing? I'm in the freakin' basement!
(Hallway)
Buffy: OK. Sorry about that. I—I have to ...
Principal Wood: Yeah. No, of course. And good luck with that...dog tragedy.
(Basement)
(Dawn hangs up the phone and talks to her two friends.)
Dawn: Help is on the way, you guys. We've just got to figure out…(She stops to look around and notices that her ghosts are nowhere to be found.) Where did they go?
(Then a dead person's hand grabs her by the throat.)
(Restroom)
(Buffy goes into the restroom where the girls fell into the basement. She sees the hole in the floor and jumps down it.)
(Basement)
(Buffy wanders around the basement looking for Dawn.)
Buffy: Dawn! (No answer, so Buffy tries calling her cell phone again. Dawn's phone rings where Buffy can hear it.) Dawn? I'm close by.
Dead Janitor: Too late. But then, you're always too late, aren't you? Sure as hell didn't save me.
(She hangs up the phone.)
Buffy: Where's my sister?
Dead Janitor: I think she's lost.
Buffy: If I'm the one who let you die, why take it out on her? I'm right here. C'mon, what're you after? Fear? Revenge? Tasty brains?
Dead Nerd: I think I'd like Dawn to be my girlfriend.
Buffy: Again, wrong sister. I'm the one that dates dead guys. And, no offense, but they were hotties. I mean, I'm sure you had a great personality, but...
Dead Girl: Busy making out with your dead boyfriend while I was ripped to death by a werewolf? (scoffs) Is that why you let me die?
Dead Nerd: I was screaming for help when they pulled me down—
(Buffy makes a "T" with her hands, gesturing for a timeout.)
Buffy: Hello! Not making myself clear. I don't care how you died. I'm sorry for your loss, but where is my sister? Dawn!
Dead Janitor: She's not gonna hear you. This place is like a maze.
Dead Girl: This place is ours now. It was built on our graves.
Dead Janitor: All we want is for you to leave so we can rest again.
Buffy: Actually, I'm thinking all you want is to get between me and that door. Who's for finding out why. (Dead Nerd lunges at Buffy, who pushes him out of the way. Then Dead Girl jumps on her back, and Buffy falls back to the ground to knock her off. When Buffy gets up, she thought she had taken them all out, but suddenly all three dead people are standing in front of the door again, like they reappeared there supernaturally.) If at first you don't succeed... (Buffy leaps over them.) ... cheat! (They jump her again. She fights them off and goes for the door.) Dawnie, we have to get o… (When she opens the door, much to her surprise, it's not Dawn behind the door after all. She's staring into the face of a longer-haired Spike. He looks grim, and not the least bit happy to see her. Buffy is astonished.) Spike? Are you real?
(Spike laughs and looks funny at her. He stops laughing, and touches his hand tenderly to her face.)
Spike: Buffy, duck.
Buffy: What? Duck? There's a duck?
(From behind, the Dead Janitor hits her over the head with a pipe.)
Spike: No visitors today. Terribly busy.
(The Dead Janitor starts beating on Buffy with the pipe.)
Dead Nerd: Told you to get out.
(Buffy trips the Dead Janitor, making him fall to the floor. She jumps up and uses the door where she found Spike to hit the Dead Janitor's head. Then she goes into the room and latches the door behind her.)
Buffy: He'll probably show up in a sec.
Spike: Nobody comes in here. It's just the three of us.
Buffy: Spike, have you seen Dawn? She came down here with some kids.
Spike: (Yelling) Don't you think I'm trying? I'm not fast. I'm not a quick study. (Suddenly crying) I dropped my board in the water and the chalk all ran. Sure to be caned. (Laughs) Should've seen that coming.
(He moves away from Buffy into a corner, but she follows. His unbuttoned shirt was loose, but he covered his chest with it, crossed his arms, and leaned his back against the wall. She reaches for his shirt to see what he was hiding. He looks away. There are numerous deep gashes on the upper left side of his chest, like he has been clawed.)
Buffy: What did you do?
Spike: I tried... I... tried to cut it out.
(Buffy doesn't understand what's going on with Spike. He's clearly acting strange, but her cell phone rings before she can figure it out. She turns away from him to answer it.)
Buffy: Dawn?
Dawn: Buffy, where are you?
Buffy: I... (She is distracted by Spike's barely audible mumbling. He has crouched down on the floor on his tiptoes.) Look, where are you?
Dawn: I don't know. In a room by the furnace. Near where we fell in. They dragged us in here, and then they disappeared.
Buffy: Yeah, they came after me too.
Dawn: Well, what do they want?
Buffy: So far, to piss me off.
Dawn: Please, tell me it's working.
Buffy: Oh, I'm damage-bound. I just can't figure them. Ghosts can't touch you and zombies can't disappear, so I don't know what—
Spike: Not ghosts.
Dawn: Who was that?
Buffy: (To the phone) Hold on. (To Spike) You know what they are?
Spike: Manifest spirits controlled by a talisman, raised to seek vengeance. A 4-year-old could figure it.
Buffy: (To the phone) Hang tight. I'll find you. These things can hurt you. You can hurt them too. Find a weapon. I'll come for you. (To Spike) Spike, you gonna help me out?
Spike: This is my home. I belong here. Always been here. Cheers for stopping by. (He walks away from Buffy. He faces the wall, puts his hands on it, and talks to himself.) It's in the wall.
(Spike turns away from her to put his hands on the wall. He starts to moan softly.)
Buffy: I'll get back to you. (She kicks down the door and leaves the room.) Guys? Resentful dead guys? This can't be good. Come on, manifest spirits, raised up, controlled by a... talisman. (Buffy makes a call on her cell phone.) Xander...
(Basement Hallway)
(Dawn, Kit, and Carlos are in a different area of the basement than Buffy.)
Dawn: We need to find some kind of weapon just to hold them off.
(Carlos finds some bricks on a nearby utility shelf.)
Carlos: I got these.
Dawn: Kit, gimme your bag.
(Dawn empties the contents of Kit's purse on the floor and replaces them with the bricks. Buffy is still looking for them in the basement.)
Kit: Do you think they're gonna come back?
Dead Girl: Think they're gonna come back? We never left. We'll always be here. Just like you.
Kit: No.
Dead Girl: Why do you think we picked you? The ones no one will miss. The ones that don't belong. You spend all your time trying to get out of high school, and now you'll never ever leave.
(Dawn swings the brick-bag at the Dead Girl's knees and knocks her down. The Dead Janitor knocks Dawn back with a punch to the face. Dawn shrieks. Buffy hears her and runs toward the scream.)
(Restroom)
(Xander enters the restroom and sees the floor has fallen in.)
Xander: Whoa. Contracty goodness. Talisman, talisman.
(He edges himself around the hole in the floor to move toward the mirrors and sinks.)
(Basement)
(The dead people are still fighting Dawn and friends. The dead janitor attacks Dawn, who screams.)
Dead Janitor: You can thank your sister for this.
(Buffy enters the room, and the Dead Nerd comes at her with a pipe. She pushes him away and kicks the Dead Janitor away from Dawn.)
Dawn: Thanks, sis.
Buffy: We just need to keep them at bay.
(The dead people keep attacking Buffy and Dawn.)
Dawn: The bag!
(Buffy kicks butt with the brick-bag and her karate kicks.)
(Restroom)
(Xander is looking around on the floor of the restroom and finds the feather/crystal/twig talisman right where Buffy dropped it earlier.)
Xander: Yes! Talisman.
(Dead Girl jumps on his back and attacks him.)
(Basement)
(Buffy is still fighting the dead people. Dawn throws Buffy a metal pipe.)
Buffy: Do you really want to keep this up?
Dead Janitor: What're you going to do, kill us?
(Restroom)
(Still fighting off the Dead Girl, Xander breaks the talisman in half, and the dead people vanish.)
(Basement)
(After the dead people vanish in front of their eyes, the kids have a look of awe on their faces.)
Carlos: Are they gone?
Buffy: Yeah. The talisman must have been destroyed.
Dawn: How'd you know it was a talisman?
Buffy: There's always a talisman. The real question is who put it there. C'mon, you guys, let's go find a way upstairs, assuming there is one.
Dawn: You really weren't kidding about this place. I guess it hasn't changed.
Buffy: I don't know. Seems smaller.
(Hallway)
(Buffy is standing in the hallway, talking to Dawn, Kit, and Carlos.)
Buffy: You guys are gonna be OK. School is intense, but you'll do all right as long as you're careful. And you might want to think about sticking together.
Kit: Thank you.
(She hugs Buffy.)
Carlos: Yeah, I mean it. You are the coolest mom ever.
(Buffy looks self-conscious and plays with her hair. Dawn saves her from further embarrassment by ushering her friends away.)
Dawn: OK. Come on, we still have a few more classes to live through.
(Dawn kisses Buffy on the cheek, and walks away with her friends. The principal walks up to Buffy.)
Principal Wood: Curiouser and curiouser.
Buffy: What is?
Principal Wood: Carlos Trejo and Kit Holburn, right? Possibly the only two students in this school whose files are as thick as yours was.
Buffy: You really did your homework, didn't you?
Principal Wood: I was looking for one or both of them to actually implode in a fearsome way right before midterms. And now I see that you got 'em socializing and hugging and actually, if I'm not mistaken, headed to class.
Buffy: Well, we shared an…encounter.
Principal Wood: Look, I know you're probably more than happy to get out of this place. But I gotta tell you, Miss Summers, I think you belong here.
Buffy: Hmm, new?
Principal Wood: Listen, I know this school's reputation. What, you think I got this job based on seniority? We got a lot of troubled students here, and just enough money to keep this place from caving in.
Buffy: Yeah, you might need a little extra there.
Principal Wood: Well, we do have a community outreach program. And the money we could pay you... wouldn't even fold. But it would just be a couple of days a week.
Buffy: Are you asking me to be a counselor?
Principal Wood: Well, we have a guidance counselor, but I was thinking the kids could use someone, you know, closer to their age who still—
Buffy: I'm in!
Principal Wood: What, you serious? You—you did hear the part about the money, right?
Buffy: Yeah, I heard. My schedule might be a little funtastic, but, uh, I'll work it out. I'd like to keep an eye on this place.
Principal Wood: Well, that's great. Look at that. It's not even noon, and I've already bullied my first family member into helping out. I'm going to be the best principal ever.
(Principal walks away. Buffy looks pleased like maybe things will work out after all.)
(Basement)
(Back in the room where Spike was. He's still crouched down on the floor on his tiptoes, hugging his knees. He looks vulnerable, like he's in there with someone or something dangerous.)
Spike: The thing is...I had a speech. I learned it all. Oh, God. She won't understand, she won't understand.
(Warren is circling Spike, addressing him as Spike cowers in the middle of the room.)
Warren: Of course she won't understand, Sparky. I'm beyond her understanding. She's a girl. Sugar and spice and everything...useless unless you're baking. I'm more than that. More than flesh...
(Warren morphs into Glory, who is still pacing and talking to Spike.)
Glory: ...more than blood. I'm... you know, I honestly don't think there's a human word fabulous enough for me. Oh, my name will be on everyone's lips, assuming their lips haven't been torn off. But not just yet. That's alright, though...
(Glory morphs into Adam, and continues to pace.)
Adam: ...I can be patient. Everything is well within parameters. She's exactly where I want her to be. And so are you, Number 17. You're right where you belong.
(Morphing Monster changes to the Mayor and bends down on one knee to talk to Spike at eye-level.)
Mayor Wilkins: So what'd you think? You'd get your soul back and everything'd be Jim Dandy? Soul's slipperier than a greased weasel. Why do you think I sold mine? (laughs) Well, you probably thought that you'd be your own man, and I respect that, but...
(Morphs into Drusilla.)
Drusilla: (touching Spike's face) ...you never will. You'll always be mine. You'll always be in the dark with me, singing our little songs. You like our little songs, don't you? You've always liked them, right from the beginning. And that's where we're going...
(Morphs into The Master.)
The Master: (stands) ...right back to the beginning. Not the Bang... not the Word... the true beginning. The next few months are going to be quite a ride. And I think we're all going to learn something about ourselves in the process. You'll learn you're a pathetic schmuck, if it hasn't sunk in already. Look at you. Trying to do what's right, just like her. You still don't get it. It's not about right, not about wrong...
(Morphing Monster walks around behind Spike, and when it reappears, it has transformed into Buffy. As Buffy, it is standing with arms crossed in front, with a smug and serious look on her face, glaring at Spike.)
Buffy: ...it's about power.
Season Seven Guide