Show Time
(Sunnydale Bus Station – Night)
(A charter bus opens its doors, and a couple of people walk down the steps to exit the vehicle.)
Bus Driver: Sunnydale. Watch your step. Next stop...
(The last person to exit is a young African-American girl, wearing denim overalls and carrying a backpack. She looks around and walks forward between parked buses to the bus terminal building. The sign overhead reads "OVERLAND CHARTERS". The girl looks at the building, but the doors are closed and no lights are on. She looks around anxiously, and goes to the nearby pay phone, grabs the phone book, and start flipping through it. The page she's searching reads "SUNNYDALE" along the side, and "S SOTER-SULLIVAN" across the top. The girl runs her finger down through the names, searching, before she realizes that the page she needs has been torn out of the book. When she looks up from the book, she sees a black-robed, hooded, eyeless man approaching her. She drops the phone book and turns to run, but sees two more of these men, the Bringers, coming toward her with knives in their hands. She backs up against the wall, panicked and breathing heavily, and sinks down to the ground. Just then, the pair of Bringers between the buses are lifted off the ground and go flying apart, revealing Buffy, who had thrown them to the ground. The third Bringer runs away while the two Buffy attacked come back for more. One lunges at her with his knife, but Buffy grabs his hand and stabs the other Bringer with the knife he's holding. The stabbed Bringer doubles over in pain, and Buffy kicks him to the ground. Buffy continues to wrestle with the other Bringer, ultimately breaking his neck. Buffy then sees the one who started running away, and calls out to him.)
Buffy: (yells) Hey! (bends to pick up a Bringer's knife at her feet) Try picking on someone my own size. (She hurls the knife at the fleeing Bringer, landing it in his back, stabbing him through the heart. Buffy walks up to Rona, who is still cowering on the ground.) Rona, right? (Rona nods.) I just got word you were arriving. (offers Rona a hand to help her up)
Rona: (takes Buffy's hand, stands) You're her!
Buffy: Her is me.
Rona: (still out of breath, looking around the parking lot) You know, I thought, uh—they told me I'd be safe here.
Buffy: Right. Well, you are. I mean, you will be...safer...with me around.
Rona: That's good.
Buffy: (starts to walk away) Next time you're attacked—
Rona: (follows Buffy, panicked) Whoa, whoa—next time? You saying I'm gonna get attacked again?
Buffy: Welcome to the Hellmouth.
(Summers Residence – Willow’s Room – Morning)
(Pan from window to the bedroom floor, where Willow's tossing and turning in a sleeping bag.)
Kennedy: (os) You don't have to do this. (Pan up to show Kennedy is lying on the foot of the bed, with one arm bent at the elbow, propping her head up on her hand, talking to Willow.) Flooring it. In the bag. 'Cause (pats the bed behind her) nice big comfy bed right here. I mean, you ought to know. Your bed.
Willow: (wide eyed and stiff, lying on her back) Yeah, but no. I'm OK. I just, I like it down here. (pats the sleeping bag) It's firm.
Kennedy: (chuckles) Funny, you look a little uncomfortable. Or... is it just me?
Willow: No. I'm just, uh, uneasy 'cause Buffy's out.
Kennedy: Right. How many girls arriving this time?
Willow: Just one. But since Giles has the coven searching for other slayers-in-waiting to send 'em our way, I bet we'll be seeing a lot more soon enough.
(Kennedy moves the arm that was propping her head, flips her long brown hair, and snuggles her face into her pillow, still looking at Willow.)
Kennedy: So, you're saying I should enjoy having this bed all to myself as long as I can?
Willow: It is starting to get crowded around here.
Kennedy: (props her head on her hand again) Totally. And with this many girls, well, I'm just saying if we don't get another bathroom in this house soon, things are gonna get ugly.
Willow: Sounds like somebody had to share mirror time with a bunch of siblings.
Kennedy: Somebody not me. I only got a half-sister and we didn't have to share. Her bedroom was in another wing of the house.
Willow: (staring) Wing? Your house had wings?
Kennedy: Yeah. Just a couple. A few. Our summer home in the Hamptons didn't have any at all. Well, one, actually.
Willow: Huh. Well, that's—that's ... huh.
Kennedy: But never mind my deal. What's your story, Willow, I mean, witchcraft? Wow, that sounds new-agey.
Willow: No, it's safe to say that what I practice is definitely old-agey.
Kennedy: (nods) So, show me a trick.
Willow: A trick?
Kennedy: You know, pull a rabbit out of something, or make something float.
Willow: Uh, yeah, listen, Kennedy, um, it's almost morning. We really need to get some sleep.
Kennedy: Hey, if I wanted to sleep, I'd be downstairs catching Z's with the other girls.
(Living Room)
(Molly's sitting on a chair, talking to three slayers-in-training, who are all lined up on the floor in front of her lying in sleeping bags on their bellies, heads propped up on their elbows, looking intently at her. There's a brunette Hispanic girl, a blonde girl with a southern accent, and a tall, skinny red-head girl.)
Molly: Annabelle was all, "Control your fear, control your fear." Meanwhile, she's the one that goes scampering off, right into that Turok-Han vampire. Poor Annie.
Blonde SIT: Great, so the slayer who's supposed to protect us let her get killed?
Molly: She didn't let her. Annabelle was foolish. Buffy can't be faulted by arriving too late.
Brunette SIT: (sits up) It's not like she could've stopped it. I mean the super vampire messed her up pretty good.
Red-Head SIT: (sits up) No lie, she still looked like a big bruise when I got here, and that was already like the day after.
Blonde SIT: And why isn't she back yet? Buffy. She left to get the new girl over an hour ago. (Molly looks down contemplatively.) Maybe she ran into trouble. (the red-head slayer-in-training shrugs) You don't think she was too late again.
Molly: Maybe…
Xander: (sleeping on a couch in the background) Maybe we can save the maybes for a more dayish part of the day, girls. (turns on lamp) Potential slayers can function without sleep. Me, I'm no good without my usual 90 minutes.
Andrew: (in the next room over, still tied to a chair, facing away from the group) I'm with him. Keep the chatter down! Or, speak up so I can hear you. (to himself) I'm bored. Episode I bored.
(Buffy walks in the front door with Rona.)
Buffy: You guys are all still up?
Xander: (sits up, fakes a smile) Ah! Who needs sleep?
Buffy: Everybody, this is Rona. (gestures to Rona)
Everyone: Hi. Hi, Rona.
Andrew: Hey, Rona.
Xander: (leans forward and smiles) Hey, Rona.
Rona: (with her arms crossed, surveys the room, sees Andrew) Um... (to Buffy) why is that guy tied to a chair?
Xander: The question you'll soon be asking is, "Why isn't he gagged?" (smirks)
(Anya enters the room with a rolled up sleeping bag, and Giles follows her in.)
Giles: Molly, why don't you show our new houseguest where the kitchen is. I'm sure she's hungry after her travels.
Molly: (holding a bag of potato chips, stands) Fair enough. I'm a bit peckish meself. (exits)
Rona: (to Anya) Bit what as well?
Anya: That's English for "hungry." (unrolls the sleeping bag and arranges it on the floor)
Rona: (follows Molly, to herself) Oh, here I thought "hungry" was English for "hungry."
Giles: (to Buffy) Everything all right?
Buffy: (helping Anya make a bed for Rona) She had a welcoming committee.
Xander: So, The First knows potential slayers are making their way here?
Giles: (leans forward on the back of a chair) I must warn the coven to be cautious.
Buffy: The First's always gonna be one step ahead of us, Giles. I need to know how to stop it. No, not stop it, hurt it. I want to hurt it real bad. Tell me how.
Giles: I—I don't know, Buffy. (takes off glasses, squats down to be on eye level with everyone in the room) I've exhausted all the sources I have left with little result. The Watcher's records are still really all we have to go on.
Anya: I made the rounds myself. Tried to dig up anything useful from the demon community.
Xander: They're a community now? What's next, the Ladies' Auxiliary?
Anya: The ones that didn't attack me, didn't know anything or didn't talk. Either way, we've got squat.
Buffy: Well, squat's not gonna cut it. What about the Turok-Han?
Xander: The vampire time forgot?
Buffy: Time may have forgotten him, but I sure won't. We know stakes don't kill it, but anything in those ancient books about what does? Sunlight, fire, germs?
Andrew: (from the other room) So, Giles, with that thing guarding the entrance to The First's crib, how will Buffy get to Spike? (Giles's jaw drops, and he seems perplexed)
Buffy: I really hate to admit this, but he's not wrong. There's no way we'll be able to help Spike until that thing is out of the way.
Blonde SIT: Spike? Sorry, I'm confused. He's that vampire who's been killing people, right? He's the one you're worried about helping?
Buffy: (stammering) Well, we need him to—he's the one that's been—it's complicated, Chloe.
Chloe: I'm Chloe, she's Eve.
Eve: It's just, well, we've been talking, and do we have some kind of plan? You know, any kind of plan to keep us from dying?
Buffy: (stands, sighs) We're working on it.
Giles: (stands, walks to Buffy) There is one avenue that we haven't tried yet—
Anya: (stands) Giles!
Giles: Beljoxa's Eye.
Xander: And exactly what part of town is that avenue in?
Anya: (emphatically) I told you no.
Buffy: Wh-what is Botox's eye?
Giles: Beljoxa's Eye. It's an oracle type creature that exists in a dark dimension.
Anya: Internal vortex more like.
Buffy: Fun.
Anya: Not really, no.
Giles: The point is, only demons can open the gateway to it.
Anya: (to Giles) Excuse me, ex-demon here.
Giles: You're still friends in the fold. Murderous acquaintances, anyway.
Anya: (to Buffy) Look, there's no reason to think this Beljoxa's Eye will have any of the answers we're looking for.
Buffy: I'll take anything I can get. Anya, please, we're running out of time. Spike's running out of time.
(Underground Cave)
(Spike, still beaten and scarred from his torture by The First, has his back to the rocky surface of the cave. From the close up shot, it looks as though he's lying on the ground with his hands on either side of his head. Pan out and rotate the angle to show that he is indeed chained upright to the rocky cave wall, his wrists shackled. A Bringer comes toward Spike with a knife in hand. As the Bringer lunges at Spike with the knife, Spike shifts his body weight from his feet to his hands, as he lifts his legs up and uses his feet to break the neck of the Bringer. Spike seems strong and energetic compared to when last he appeared. Another Bringer approaches him, wielding a fiery torch, and Spike rips his hands free of his shackles, ducking the torch as the Bringer swings it at him. Spike kicks the Bringer, knocking him out, then starts to run out of the cave. As he gets halfway through the passageway, he sees someone ahead, walking toward him. He considers going back, but pauses to see who it is. It's Buffy—white-shirted, sweetly smiling Buffy. Spike smiles and leans forward—Spike's head falls forward as a black-shirted Buffy addresses him. He's still shackled to the cave wall.)
Buffy/First: (pacing in front of him) Dreaming of me again, aren't you? Poor Spike. He still thinks I believe in him. Be realistic. I don't even believe in myself. (stops pacing) At least not enough to risk my skin to save your ass. Not enough to face...(turns to the Turok-Han) that. (turns back to Spike) I'm sorry, Spike. But you need to accept this. You know it never would've worked out. You need to let go so we can both move on. I promise, soon it'll all be—
(Buffy/First notices that Spike's eyes are closed, and he's muttering to himself. She walks up to him, getting right in his face.)
Spike: She will come for me. She will come for me. She will come for me.
(Buffy/First puts her hand up to Spike's face, and traces it without touching him, smiling sweetly. Then she stops, puts a finger in front of his lips, and stares him in the eye.)
Buffy/First: (matter-of-factly) No, I won't.
(Alley – Day)
(Someone's emptying a garbage can into a dumpster.)
Anya: Why not?
Torg: You have the nerve to ask me that?
Anya: Come on, Torg, that was like a lifetime ago.
(Torg puts down the trash can he's holding to reveal his horribly disfigured demon face. He's built like a biker, with a large, muscular body, and long stringy hair. But his hairline is unusual—a long zigzag pattern along the crown of his head. He's also got a barbed wire tattoo over his ear where there's no hair. His eyes are an odd color, and his face is red and creased like he's been scarred from fights, his ears are oversized and pointed. He's pierced everywhere—nose, brow, ears. Plus, he's got a goatee and a few whiskers along his jaw line.)
Torg: Three, but who's counting. You broke my heart, Anyanka.
Anya: Don't be so dramatic, Torg. You don't even have a heart. (laughs) Six spleens, two stomachs, half a brain maybe, but no heart.
Torg: Don't mock this. The night we spent together was...important to me.
Anya: It was one date. And it wasn't even a date. (Giles rolls his eyes) We just happened to be invited to the same massacre, and—and you hit on me after I had a few...
Torg: I remember, you wore pink.
Anya: Those were entrails.
Giles: I'm sorry, perhaps we could skip the nostalgia— (Anya glares at him.) Sorry, no, no, carry on.
Anya: OK, Torg, look, you open this tiny little gateway to the Beljoxa's Eye for me, and I'll— You and I will go— (sighs) I'll have sex with you again.
Torg: Ugh, please, you're human. The way you look now, I wouldn't touch you for all the kittens in Korea.
Anya: You're rejecting my offer of sexual bribery? (to Giles) What am I, a leper in this town? I can't even give it away!
Torg: (grabs his garbage can and starts walking back inside) Come back when you are a leper.
Giles: (steps in front of Torg) Um, perhaps this might change your mind. You help us, and the slayer won't kill your clientele and burn your establishment to the ground.
(Torg glares at Anya, then at Giles. He puts his fist in front of Giles's face, then pulls on a claw sticking out of the back of his hand until it makes a crunching sound. He squeezes his fist, then flings blood from his wounded hand toward the back of the alley. A moment later, a portal appears, glowing white.)
Torg: (toward the portal) Ek'vola mok't Beljoxa do'kar. (to Anya) There's your stinking gateway, Anyanka. (picks up his garbage can) Don't let it hit you on the way out. (walks back inside)
Anya: (to Giles) It's the hair, right? Not attractive?
Giles: (walks toward the portal) Come on. (Anya follows)
Anya: Buckle up.
(Giles and Anya walk through the portal.)
(Beljoxa’s Eye Dimension)
(It's pitch black and windy as Giles and Anya walk through the portal.)
Anya: (looking around) God, I hate this place.
Giles: (looking around) Where's the Beljoxa's Eye?
Beljoxa’s Eye: Here.
(Giles and Anya walk toward the deep, echoing voice and discover a creature that's got many eyes covering its surface. It's shaped vaguely like a comet, or maybe a huge eyeball with the nerve endings streaming out behind it. The eyes covering it's pink body are of varied shapes, sizes, and colors. The round part of the creature is in a spherical metal cage suspended from the ceiling in by chains.)
Anya: Ah! Oh, (waves) Hi.
(Summers Residence – Kitchen)
(The telephone rings, and Willow picks up the cordless handset an answers it.)
Willow: Hello? No, Giles isn't here right— Yeah, this is Willow. Althenea, hi! How's the coven? Oh, I miss you guys. Still working out that Pleiadian spirit conjuring? What? Oh, OK, when?
(Dining Room)
(Xander is squatting next to Andrew's chair, untying him.)
Andrew: Ow! Watch it! That's my joystick hand.
Xander: (rolls eyes) I'm not gonna touch that one.
Buffy: (standing on the other side of Andrew, with her arms crossed) OK, listen up, Andrew. I don't exactly know what to do with you, except that we don't have time to babysit a hostage.
Xander: Especially a hostage that's gotten more than a little ripe.
Buffy: (makes a face, and steps back a few feet away from Andrew) So, I'm here to tell you, if you try anything, try to run— Did you ever see the movie Misery?
Andrew: Six times. But the book was scarier than the movie 'cause instead of crushing his foot with a sledge hammer, Kathy Bates chops it off with— (stops rambling, sees Buffy glaring at him, and swallows) I'll be good.
Willow: (comes in from the kitchen) Buffy—word from the underground. Another potential arrived in town the day before yesterday. She's at the Sun Spot Motel, near the highway.
Xander: The day before yesterday? Why are we just finding out about it now?
Willow: Bringers killed her watcher before he could tell anyone he sent her. If it wasn't for a particularly powerful seer in the coven, we wouldn't even know about it now.
Buffy: OK, I mean, (looks out the window) there's still a couple of hours of daylight left. You guys should be safe here. I'll get her and bring her back. (turns to leave)
Xander: I'll go with you. (follows Buffy)
Andrew: (stands) All right, retrieving a potential. Let's do it! (Buffy and Xander turn to glare at him.) Or I could just go wash up.
(Buffy and Xander leave through the front door. Dawn walks in from the kitchen.)
Dawn: (to Willow) Where are they going?
Willow: Bring another newbie in from the cold.
Dawn: Another one?
Willow: Well, the more the better, I figure. We need all the help we can get.
Dawn: Help. Sure that's cool, but—
Willow: What?
Dawn: I'm just not sure more scared Slayer wannabes translates as help.
(Basement)
(The slayers-in-training that are staying at Buffy's house are training in the basement. There's equipment there for them to use, and ample space for working out. The redheaded girl is stretching. Molly is juggling stakes. Kennedy is holding the punching bag for Chloe. Rona and Eve are standing on the sidelines watching them.)
Eve: (shrugs) What—what are we all doing here?
Kennedy: It's called training. Didn't your watcher ever teach you the word?
Rona: I never had a watcher. I only just found out what I was—or what I might be—after those crazy-ass monks came after me.
Eve: I meant why are we all bothering? It's not like we can make a difference. (Kennedy rolls her eyes)
Molly: We've gotta try. (juggling stakes) We gotta keep our reflexes sharp. (drops a stake)
Kennedy: We have to be ready. If something comes down—
Chloe: No, something's already come down.
Eve: She's right. And what are we supposed to do about it? I mean, I've never seen a real vampire in my whole life, much less slayed one.
Red-Head SIT: I've seen one. (the girls turn to look at her) Well, my watcher once showed me a photograph of one. (beat) A blurry photograph.
Eve: (gestures toward her) That's what I'm saying. Not one of us is remotely prepared to be activated as a new chosen one.
Kennedy: (shrugs, confidently) I feel pretty prepared.
Rona: Excuse the newness of me, but, uh, just so I understand, if a slayer dies—
Eve: Well, when the slayer dies. I mean, nobody lives forever, right?
Rona: Then one of us—
Eve: Get's activated. Uh-huh.
Molly: I prefer "called."
Red-Head SIT: I heard there's more than one.
Kennedy: More than one what?
Red-Head SIT: Slayer. There's another one—somewhere.
Molly: That doesn't make any sense.
Eve: Like any of this does. No matter how many there are, one of us is gonna be the next slayer, with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Chloe: (shakes her head) It won't be me. I mean, not now. I mean, I'm too young.
Kennedy: Doesn't work that way. In fact, the younger, the better. In fact, I'm starting to think it might be too late for me.
Eve: Never too late. It could be anyone. Especially since there's so few of us left. They'll just run through each one of us, one after the other. Kinda creepy, huh? All we do is wait around for each other to die.
(Sun Spot Motel)
(Buffy and Xander walk up to Room 25.)
Xander: You sure this is it?
Buffy: The clerk said it's the only check-in they've had in a week. Tourism must be down.
Xander: Right in the middle of apocalypse season.
Buffy: (knocks) Hello. (knocks again) It's OK. We're friendly. And we have eyes.
Xander: (peers in through the window) Buffy—kick the door down.
(Buffy kicks the door in and enters, followed by Xander. She sees a girl lying on the floor, face down in a pool of blood. Buffy kneels to touch her, and looks back up at Xander.)
Buffy: She's cold. Been dead for days.
Xander: Poor kid. She made it all the way to Sunnydale just to get herself killed. (Buffy rolls the girl over) If only we—
Buffy: (looks at the girl's face) Eve.
Xander: Eve, who's in our house?
(Buffy and Xander stare at each other, wide-eyed and incredulous.)
(Summers Residence – Basement)
(All the girls are all sitting on the floor in a circle, with despondent looks on their faces.)
Eve: Just my personal opinion, but I don't think the slayer can protect us from The First.
(Living Room)
(Dawn's standing at a desk, looking through notebooks. Andrew is in the same room, standing and talking to her.)
Andrew: OK, here's another interesting thing: how come the slayer's always a girl?
Dawn: I dunno. 'Cause girls are cooler?
Andrew: I think a guy slayer would be badass. Like—like if there was this ninja, a guy slayer would be like, (holds up his hand in a karate pose and puts on a voice) "you may be silent, but this'll shut you up." (does a karate move) Hiya.
Dawn: Buffy could stomp ninja ass. (walks to another desk)
Andrew: The silent warrior? Ha ha—I think not. She can't even slay that special vampire. (Dawn glares, Andrew shrugs) Everyone's saying.
Dawn: Well everyone should shut up. And you should stop pretending anybody here is your friend.
Andrew: And also, why's she so about saving Spike? He's a worse killer than me by... a way lot.
Dawn: Spike was being controlled by The First. And he has a soul now. Besides, we need his help.
Andrew: What about me? Did it ever occur to anyone that I could be a lot more useful around here? I used to be an evil genius. Hello?
Dawn: (walks up to him) And what was your genius thing?
Andrew: Well, um, raising demons mostly. (Dawn cocks her head and smirks) OK, so, not for now, but also there was planning. There were, um, blueprints. (Dawn glares) I can be in this, kicking it righteous. Yeah. Oh, oh, yeah.
Dawn: (glaring emotionless) Buffy said if you talked enough, I'm allowed to kill you.
Andrew: (timidly) Not even.
Dawn: (cocks her head to the side) Even.
Andrew: License to kill, huh? (nods) Pretty cool. You know, Timothy Dalton never got his props 'cause he came in at the end of an old regime, but he had it goin' on. He went rogue with the Broccolis. They were just treading water, stylistically.
Dawn: (shakes head) Is there a language that you're speaking?
Andrew: (pouts and sits on the couch) I'm so alone.
Dawn: Then maybe you shouldn't've killed your only friend. (walks off)
Andrew: I hate that. You don't even know.
Dawn: I don't plan to.
Andrew: The slayer's not getting it done. (points to the ground) I have got my ear to the ground, and that's the word. (Dawn walks off, he calls after her) Do you wanna play "Kevin Bacon"? (pouts and leans back on the couch, propping his feet up on it)
(Buffy walks in the front door in a huff and looks around. Willow and Dawn are at the dining room table.)
Willow: Buffy.
Dawn: What is it?
(Buffy looks at Andrew, who's on her couch. She glares at him, and he sits up and wipes off the part of the couch his feet were on. Buffy just rolls her eyes and goes into the next room. Xander, Willow, Dawn, and Andrew follow.)
(Basement)
(Buffy rushes down the stairs to the basement.)
Buffy: Get away from them.
Kennedy: (looks up from reading a book) Who? Get away from who?
Eve/First: (turns to look at Buffy) What's the problem, officer?
Buffy: (firmly, through gritted teeth) I said get away from them now.
Dawn: Buffy, what did Eve do?
Xander: That's not Eve.
Buffy: Eve's dead.
Rona: (holds up her hands in confusion) I don't—I don't understand.
(All the girls stand and back away from Eve. Eve stands and faces Buffy.)
Eve/First: Oops! One more down. Oh, well, can't save 'em all, can ya, Buffy? (turns to face the slayers-in-training) Thanks for the slumber party, girls. It's been real fun the last couple of nights. I learned a whole lot—
Buffy: Shut up, and get out!
Eve/First: (turns to face Buffy) Or you'll do what? I'll be sending a guest over to visit y'all later on tonight, after the sun goes down of course. Try and make him feel welcome before he rips y'all to pieces. Bye.
(Eve disappears in a flash of light.)
Andrew: (quickly) I need to go wash up again. (runs back up the stairs)
(Beljoxa’s Eye Dimension)
(Beljoxa's Eye is addressing Giles and Anya.)
Beljoxa’s Eye: It cannot be fought, it cannot be killed. The First Evil has been and always will be. Since before the universe was born, long after there is nothing else, it will go on.
Giles: I refuse to believe that. There must be some way to destroy it.
Beljoxa’s Eye: What, am I talking to myself here? There's no way.
Anya: OK, we tried. Let's go, Giles. (starts to walk away)
Giles: Are you saying that The First will succeed in—in wiping out the line of slayers?
Beljoxa’s Eye: The eye sees not the future, only the truth of the now and before.
Anya: Yes, we've all got that—it's called memory. Can you help us out with something a little bit more demony?
Giles: If The First has been around for all time, then why hasn't it attempted something like this before? Why now?
Beljoxa’s Eye: The opportunity has only recently presented itself.
Giles: Opportunity?
Beljoxa’s Eye: The mystical forces surrounding the chosen line have become irrevocably altered, become unstable, vulnerable.
Anya: Something The First did?
Beljoxa’s Eye: The First Evil did not cause the disruption, only seized upon it to extinguish the lives of the chosen forever.
Giles: Then what has caused the disruption? What—what is responsible for letting this happen?
Beljoxa’s Eye: The slayer.
(Summers Residence – Dining Room)
(The slayers-in-training are sitting around the dining room table. Buffy's standing at the head of the table, and Willow's sitting at the end opposite her.)
Red-Head SIT: We should run.
Kennedy: And go where, Vi?
Dawn: Annabelle ran. Look where it got her.
Buffy: Safer in than out.
Molly: How can you say that? It was here, Buffy, in the house, living with us for days.
Chloe: And you didn't even know it.
Xander: Well, none of us knew it.
Vi: It could still be here. It could be any one of us.
Willow: No, The First can only take the form of dead people.
Rona: Yeah, well there'll be plenty more of those soon enough. We're dropping like flies here.
(All the girls start talking over one another.)
Buffy: Hey! (the girls stop talking) Look, I know you're all scared. You know what? I am too, but Giles and Anya will be back soon, and hopefully they will have the information that we need to stop The First. In the mean time, we need to stick together. OK, we're stronger that way. We cannot afford to fall apart now.
Andrew: (steps up to the table) She's right. Where would the Justice League have been if they hadn't put their differences aside to stop the Imperium and his shape-shifting alien horde? (crosses his arms)
Buffy: (sneers to Andrew) Don't help me.
Xander: Buff, the sun goes down, and UberVamp's on its way. So a plan'd be good right about now.
Buffy: Will, I'm sorry to ask, but—
Willow: I know, we need a barrier.
Buffy: A major one. Something tells me this vampire doesn't need an invite to get into the house. Can you do it?
Willow: I'll try.
Rona: Try?
Kennedy: You heard her.
Xander: Buff, are you sure about Willow doing the hocus pocus again? I—I mean, last time she—
Buffy: Xander, we don't have a lot of choices.
Chloe: And what if that doesn't work? What if that monster gets through?
Buffy: Then we'll deal.
Rona: Deal? Fight, you mean. How are we supposed to do that?
Vi: And with what?
Kennedy: (to the slayers-in-trianing) With whatever it takes! (looks at Buffy) Right?
Molly: Buffy, you fought the Turok-Han, and it almost killed you.
Chloe: And you're the real slayer.
Rona: Wh-what chance do we have?
Molly: Honestly, you staked that thing, and it didn't die.
Dawn: No, but that doesn't—
Vi: Maybe it can't be killed.
(While the girls go on about this, Buffy's just staring straight ahead with her arms crossed. Willow's staring off into the distance, then looks at Buffy.)
Dawn: That mean we shouldn't try?
Rona: There's that word again.
Kennedy: Hey, it's a good word.
Chloe: Give up. Can we do that? Surrender, I mean, so it won't kill us.
(Buffy walks into the kitchen. Willow stands up to follow her, and walks past Xander.)
Xander: (jumps, stares at Willow) What?
Kennedy: (to Xander) I said trying is good.
Xander: I just thought it beared repeating. (leaves the room, follows Buffy and Willow into the kitchen)
(Kitchen)
(Buffy, Willow and Xander stand around looking at each other with stern and concerned faces while they listen to the girls bicker in the other room.)
Dawn: (os) Um, and exactly how many UberVamps were at the Geneva Convention?
Kennedy: (os) Come on, we're all potential slayers. You know how to fight even if you don't know how you know it.
Vi: (os) Fighting's one thing. Winning's another.
Chloe: (os) I don't want to die.
(Underground Cave)
(As the sun sets above ground, The First sets its plans into motion from the cave.)
Eve/First: The time has come for all good children to say good night. (turns to the Turok-Han) Take 'em all, except for her. (the Turok-Han leaves, then to Spike) Well, alone again.
(The First morphs form from Eve to Buffy.)
Buffy/First: I just love having you all to myself. (walks toward Spike)
(Summers Residence – Living Room – Night)
(Outside, Bringers are encircling the house. Dawn's peering out between the cracks of the boarded up window. Molly and Chloe are on the couch beside her, also looking out.)
Dawn: There's more of them now.
Xander: (walking into the room) And two more out back.
Molly: Why aren't they doing anything, attacking?
Buffy: They don't want in. They're here to make sure we don't get out. (turns to the other window, where Rona, Vi, and Kennedy are looking outside) Rona. (holds up a sword)
Rona: (comes to Buffy, takes the sword) Like this'll do any good. I mean, what's the point?
Kennedy: (points to the tip of Rona's sword) It's this end right here. Just stick that in the bad guys. Any more questions? (goes to the weapons chest and takes out a crossbow) This'll do me.
Buffy: Are you sure you know how to use it?
Kennedy: (practices loading and shooting the unloaded weapon) Since I was eight. (Buffy hands her a quiver of arrows)
Andrew: (walks up to Buffy) Can I have something? Come on, the Turok-Han's coming for me too, you know. I have a right to defend myself— (Buffy raises her eyebrows.) ...if you say so.
(Buffy looks into the weapons chest and grabs a glass bottle of holy water and hands it to Andrew. He takes it and holds it close to his chest like a treasure.)
(Hallway)
(Willow's alone in the hallway off of the foyer, floating a lit votive candle a couple of inches above her hand.)
Willow: (softly) Facing my fear. I'm facing my fear. Hear that, Fear? I'm facing you.
Kennedy: (walks into the foyer and sees Willow) Wow. (breaks Willow's concentration, causing the candle to drop into her hand) You really can float stuff.
Willow: Just testing.
Kennedy: Oh, right. Heard this voodoo once turned you into the big scary. (Willow blows out the candle) Big, scary Willow—that's something I'd almost like to see—
Willow: No, you wouldn't.
Kennedy: I said "almost."
Willow: I needed to make sure. Last time I tried using magic, The First—it turned it around on me. Got inside. I felt it just surging through me, every fiber of my being. Pure, undiluted evil. I could taste it.
Kennedy: How's evil taste?
Willow: (makes a face) A little chalky.
(Living Room)
(Dawn's still watching out the window. Willow and Kennedy go back into the living room.)
Dawn: Guys? Something's happening.
Rona: (looks out and sees the Turok-Han approaching the house) Oh, my God!
Buffy: Here it comes.
(The Turok-Han walks toward Buffy's front door, growling. Everyone's in the living room, gathered around Willow. The Turok-Han is beating on the door, trying to enter the house.)
Willow: (concentrating) Caerimonia Minerva, saepio, saepire, saepsi.
Andrew: Um, deflector shields—deflector shields up!
Buffy: Willow…
(The Turok-Han finally breaks the door down, and Willow finishes the spell as her eyes go black.)
Willow: Saepio impedimentum!
(A barrier goes up, keeping the Turok-Han at bay.)
Chloe: It's working.
Vi: For the moment.
Buffy: Will—
Willow: (struggling) It's—it's strong.
Kennedy: It's hurting her.
Buffy: Hang on, Willow.
Willow: I don't know.
Dawn: She can't hold it.
Rona: (panicking) What do we do? What do we do?
Buffy: Run. Everybody run.
(As the Turok-Han continues to try to penetrate the barrier, everyone runs out the back door of the house except for Buffy and Willow who stay to the very last possible moment.)
(Backyard)
(Xander leads the gang outside, going after the Bringers with battle axe in hand. Kennedy uses her crossbow to take out a few of the Bringers herself. Hand-to-hand combat ensues as Xander fights a Bringer, but the Bringer overpowers him and takes the battle-axe away from him. Just as the Bringer is about to slice and dice Xander, Buffy stabs the Bringer from behind. Finally the magical barrier inside the house falls, and the Turok-Han runs outside after them.)
Buffy: (to Xander) Come on!
(Buffy and Xander run off after the others.)
(Alley)
(Anya and Giles step back through the portal they created earlier and back into the alley where they opened it. Both are windblown.)
Giles: Are you all right?
Anya: (limping) Yeah, I just—I don't understand how Buffy's death mucked up the whole slayer mojo. You know, it's not like she hasn't died before.
Giles: It's not because she died. The Beljoxa's Eye was quite clear about that in its enigmatic way. It's because she lives. Again. Buffy's not responsible for that.
Anya: Oh. Oh. Willow and me and Xander and Tara. We're the ones who brought Buffy back. We're—we're the reason The First is here, the reason those girls were murdered. No, it's our fault. The would would've been better off if Buffy had just stayed dead. (walks off)
(Street)
(The slayers-in-training, Dawn, Andrew, Willow, Xander and Buffy are running up the street, away from Buffy's house. They stop to talk.)
Xander: (looks over his shoulder) OK, no Bringers following. I guess they'll save us for old snaggletooth.
Willow: Where is the Turok-Han?
Buffy: Right behind us. Time to split up.
Molly: (panicked) Split up? We're splittin' up? Is that wise?
Buffy: Willow, take everyone and find a safe location.
Xander: I know a place.
Dawn: What are you gonna do?
Buffy: Gonna try to slow the Turok down. Lead him away from you guys. Get him to chase me.
Dawn: Buffy, you can't take that thing on yourself.
Kennedy: I'll stay.
Buffy: No! (takes the bottle of holy water from Andrew)
Andrew: H-hey, I need that!
Buffy: Willow, Xander, take everyone to a safe location. Get 'em out of here. Now!
(Everyone but Buffy and Dawn follows Willow.)
Xander: (touches Dawn's arm) Have to go, Dawnie.
(Dawn grudgingly goes with Xander. Buffy faces the Turok-Han, who is now on the street facing her as in a standoff. Buffy takes a running leap towards it, kicking it in the chest. It doesn't even move, but Buffy falls to the ground. As the Turok-Han comes closer to her, Buffy takes the bottle of holy water out of her pocket. When the Turok-Han is within arms reach, Buffy smashes the bottle in its face, causing it to roar and retreat. Buffy stands, but it grabs her by the throat and shoves her into a car window, shattering it. The holy water burned the Turok-Han's face, but doesn't appear to have slowed it down any. Buffy runs away, expecting the Turok-Han to give chase, which it does for a moment before stopping. Buffy turns around to see if it's still behind her, but it's gone.)
(Construction Site)
(Xander is climbing down scaffolding, still carrying his battle-axe.)
Xander: Come on, people, we gotta move.
Andrew: (also climbing down the scaffolding) I'm moving. Climbing's not my thing. I got a inner ear condition.
Xander: Is falling your thing? 'Cause if you don't pick up the pace, I'm gonna come up there and drop your ass.
Andrew: Way to keep up morale in a crisis. (jumps to the ground) No wonder Buffy's the leader.
(Everyone else is climbing down the scaffolding too.)
Rona: (under her breath) Some leader.
Chloe: This is crazy.
Rona: You got that right. (to Xander) What are we doing down here?
Xander: Quieter. Faster.
(The crew is following Xander around the site to a big open area.)
Molly: Where are we?
Xander: Future site of the new public library, opening up May 2003. If I ever get back to work, that is.
Rona: You call this a safe location?
Vi: It's the middle of nothing.
Willow: This'll do. OK everyone. Spread out, take positions. (everyone spreads out, except Andrew)
Andrew: (standing alone in the middle of the open area) Um, what's my position?
Willow: And don't make a sound.
Rona: That's the plan? Spread out? That thing is gonna kill Buffy, and then it's gonna come after us. For all we know, it's killing her right now.
Kennedy: (staring at something) Or, it could just skip that part and come straight here.
(Everyone turns to follow her gaze and sees the Turok-Han has found them, and he's growling. The Turok-Han walks menacingly toward them. Kennedy loads her crossbow and prepares to fight. The others walk up behind her.)
Chloe: (staring at the Turok-Han) Oh no no no no...
(Suddenly, the flood lights come on, and everyone turns to look. Buffy's standing there, arms crossed, on a ledge overlooking the open area.)
Dawn: Buffy?
Molly: What's she doing?
(Kennedy aims her crossbow at the Turok-Han, but Willow waves her off.)
Willow: Just watch. It's show time.
(Willow leads the group away from the open area. They climb the scaffolding and watch. Andrew looks on eagerly, hanging on the outside of the bars.)
Buffy: (to the Turok-Han) Looks good, doesn't it? They're trapped in here. Terrified. Meat for the beast, and there's nothing they can do but wait. (forward somersaults down into the open area) That's all they've been doing for days. (walks toward the Turok-Han) Waiting to be picked off. Having nightmares about monsters that can't be killed. But I don't believe in that. I always find a way. I'm the thing that monsters have nightmares about. And right now, you and me are gonna show 'em why. It's time. Welcome to Thunderdome.
Andrew: Two men enter. One man leaves.
(The Turok-Han comes for Buffy. She's able to hold her own against it for a moment, but soon she's being beaten back. The onlookers grimace as the Turok-Han deals harsh blows to Buffy. Still, she manages to get in an offensive move here and there, punching and kicking it between its own moves.)
Dawn: (watching the fight, to Willow) This—you planned this. Letting the barrier fail, bringing us here, you and Buffy.
(Flashback)
(Summers Residence – Dining Room – Day)
(The slayers-in-training are sitting around the dining room table. Buffy's standing at the head of the table, and Willow's sitting at the other end of the table.)
Molly: Honestly, you staked that thing, and it didn't die.
Dawn: No, but that doesn't—
Vi: Maybe it can't be killed.
(While the girls go on about this, Buffy's just staring straight ahead with her arms crossed.)
Buffy: (vo) (in an echoy voice, without moving her lips) Willow, can you hear me?
Willow: (vo) (looks at Buffy) Yeah.
Buffy: (vo) We're losing them. We can't let that happen. I have an idea. Grab Xander.
(Buffy walks into the kitchen. Willow stands up to follow her, and walks past Xander.)
Willow: (vo) Xander.
Xander: (jumps, stares at Willow) What?
Kennedy: (to Xander) I said...
Xander: I just thought it beared repeating. (leaves the room, follows Buffy and Willow into the kitchen)
(Kitchen)
(Buffy, Willow and Xander stand around looking at each other with stern and concerned faces, communicating telepathically, while the girls bicker in the other room.)
Buffy: (vo) I gotta slay the NeanderVamp to get Spike outta that cave, but I need those girls to see me do it.
Willow: (vo) I get it, but this isn't the best venue for a smackdown.
Kennedy: (os) ...we can whine like little wusses, or we can get off our asses and fight...
Xander: (vo) I know just the place.
(The Present – Construction Site)
(Buffy is still fighting the Turok-Han. It punches Buffy to the ground, but she gets back up to fight more. It throws her about 20 feet away, and she lands on the scaffolds, knocking the crossbow out of Kennedy's hands. Buffy picks up the weapon and aims it at the Turok-Han and fires as it runs toward her, hitting it right in the heart. It only pauses for a moment, then comes at her again. Buffy grabs a nearby pipe from the scaffolding and uses it as a staff. She then uses it to propel herself away from the fight, but the Turok-Han is right behind her. She grabs a pickaxe and swings it at the Turok-Han, but it ducks and pushes her into the wall of the construction office trailer. Buffy falls to the ground, and the Turok-Han disarms her before throwing her back toward the center of the open area. It punches her again and again. She falls into a pile of cinder blocks, but picks one up to throw at the Turok-Han—but it crushes it before she can throw it. It punches her again, and kicks her under some scaffolding before throwing her a dozen feet into the air, through the scaffold platform. Buffy manages to stay on the platform, and the Turok-Han scales the scaffolding to get to her. He grabs her by the throat, lifting her off the ground and choking her as she struggles against him.)
Rona: It's killing her.
Molly: We have to do something.
Willow: Wait!
(Buffy reaches down, grabs the arrow in the Turok-Han's chest, pulls it out, and jabs its eye. It roars and drops Buffy. While it's dealing with its injury, Buffy starts punching it, and kicks it to the ground, where it lands in a pile of cinder blocks and boards. Weakly, it tries to punch her back, but she keeps punching and kicking it until finally she can bang its head into the metal scaffolding. Buffy grabs some nearby barbed wire and slips it around the Turok-Han's throat. It falls to the ground, and Buffy pulls on it hard enough to sever its head. The Turok-Han explodes in a cloud of dust in front of her.)
Buffy: See? Dust. Just like the rest of 'em. I don't know what's coming next, but I do know it's gonna be just like this. Hard. Painful. But in the end it's gonna be us. If we all do our parts, believe it, we'll be the ones left standing. Here endeth the lesson.
(Buffy walks away as the slayers-in-training watch her. Kennedy smiles; the other girls look at each other. They all follow Buffy out of the construction site. Pan back to show Eve/First standing on the scaffolding, scowling and glaring as she watches them leave.)
(Underground Cave)
(Still shackled to the rocky cave wall, Spike sees someone walking toward him.)
Spike: (scoffs) A knife, now, is it? (White-shirted, cut and bruised Buffy is standing before him holding a Bringer's knife in her hand.) What'll...what'll that...you—you can't hurt me. You're—you're just a bloody figment, you are. You're just... (Buffy approaches him slowly and cuts him loose of his tethers. He collapses forward and braces himself with his hand on her shoulder. When he touches her and realizes she's real, he smiles and squints, searching her face intently. She looks into his eyes, tapping an emotional connection between them.) You. Oh.
(He puts his arm over her shoulder, and she puts her arm around his waist. Although Spike is weak and limping, they walk out of the cave together.)
Season Seven Guide